This content was published in 08 mayo 2025 – 11:57
A Cardinal Filipino is among the favorites to happen to Francisco as the new Pope, at times that the Church in the most Catholic country in Asia faces a decline in priestly vocations.
“According to the statistics we have (…) each priest serves about 9,000 Catholics,” said John Alfred Rabena, chancellor of the central seminar of the University of Santo Tomás, the oldest in the Philippines.
It is a situation that causes “exhaustion” between the clergy, he told AFP during a visit to the seminar headquarters on the University of Santo Tomás campus.
Cardinal Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle is one of the favorites to become Pope, and another Filipino, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, emerged as a last minute candidate.
Although they were warned that they should not campaign for their countrymen, Filipino parents told AFP that they believe that a Pope from his country could inspire a rebound in vocations.
Father Robert Reyes, a well -known activist priest, says he warned about the situation when he was a vocational director of the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines (COCF) from 1987 to 1998.
“I already warned the bishops that there were obvious signs of a decline in vocations, and how many years have passed?” He asked.
The COCF says that it does not carry figures, but the Filipina Church established in November the first national month of vocational awareness, in order to “address the critical need for more priests in the nation.”
– Broken trust –
Father Jerome Secillano, spokesman for the COCF, acknowledges that there is no secret in that need.
He cited the scandals of sexual abuse that hit the world church in the early 2000s.
«It was then that he began to decline the entrance to the seminar. We are still feeling the impact, ”he said.
Secillano believes that the rise of a Pope Filipino will bring an explosion of joy and pride, although it doubts that it is enough.
“I don’t know if a Filipino Pope will immediately restore broken trust,” he admitted.
Others told AFP that there are other factors in the vocational decline, such as cultural changes that make young people in the country more difficult.
“It is also because young people are very exposed to the secular world, with trips, with internet and social networks,” said Reyes.
The seminarian Neil Pena, 27, told AFP that he believes that a possible Pope Filipino undeniably will strengthen faith among his compatriots.
“A Pope who speaks Filipino, in a simple Filipino, speaking as if he spoke directly to you (…) It will be an inspiration,” he said.
Rabena, the chancellor of the seminar, recalled that his own decision to join the clergy was motivated by Pope Francis to the Philippines in 2015.
Arvin Eballo, a professor of theology at the University of Santo Tomás, said there was a time when almost all families aspired to have a priest son.
“They believed it was a blessing of God,” he said.
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