Having just celebrated the Sinulog Festival in honor of the Child Jesus, Cebuanos must still be nursing a religious hangover, if you can call it that.
Imagine waking up on Friday morning, Jan. 31, 2025, and reading the headline of the newspaper’s banner story that nine priests affiliated with the Archdiocese of Cebu have been implicated in sexual abuse cases.
Being jarred to their senses must be an understatement to describe their reactions. Although I suspect that the devoutest of the devout will label the report by the US-based watchdog BishopAccountability.org a blatant lie.
They may be clouded by their beliefs, and I can’t blame them, but it’s time to acknowledge the elephant in the room that has dogged the Roman Catholic Church, not only here in the Philippines but across the globe for centuries.
Priests are human beings, first and foremost. Because they are human, they are subject to the same urges embedded in our nature. To place them on a pedestal simply because they have taken a vow of celibacy is asking too much. After all, they are not infallible—unless, of course, they are the pope, but only “when he speaks on matters of faith and morals from a position of authority.”
Even then, history has shown that some who wore the mantle of papacy were embroiled in depravity and debauchery, like Pope John XII, “who gave land to a mistress, murdered several people, and was killed by a man who caught him in bed with his wife,” or Pope Urban VI, “who complained that he did not hear enough screaming when Cardinals who had conspired against him were tortured,” to name a few.
This reminds me of the classic fable about the scorpion who asked a frog to carry it across a river. We all know what happened to both of them. I think this lesson applies to priests in the Roman Catholic Church. Some may have succeeded in ignoring or denying their true nature through sheer willpower or by shielding themselves from temptation. Perhaps. Then again, we don’t really know what happens behind closed doors; we can only assume they have kept their vows.
There have been recent allegations, some dating back to the 2000s, but they eventually fade away without the public ever knowing what happened to the accused.
According to SunStar’s Denise P. Codis, Bishop Buenaventura Famadico, former bishop of the Diocese of San Pablo, confirmed that “no priest has ever been convicted of sexual violence” in the country, which is home to over 80 million Catholics.
In a rare show of transparency, the Archdiocese of Cebu confirmed in a statement on Thursday, Jan. 30, that three of the nine accused priests remain incardinated—meaning they are officially under the authority of the archdiocese—and have since been reintegrated into active ministry.
Does this mean they remain active in the church? It is not exactly a consolation for their victims or would-be victims, even though Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said that these three underwent legal and canonical processes under “guidance and supervision.”
“The problem, commonly perceived as one only for the hierarchy and parties involved in such cases, needs a new paradigm. Any problem that injures individuals’ rights is a problem for the whole church,” Palma told SunStar. “The recent release of the database of Filipino priests mentioned reminds us all of our need to come together with renewed energy to ensure that the Archdiocese of Cebu is 100 percent compliant with all necessary measures needed to embody the holiness and compassion that Christ calls us all to live out.”
Strangely enough, the archbishop made no mention of turning over the accused priests to law authorities so they can face the complaints against them in court. But hey, at least he has acknowledged that the problem exists.