Newly-elected Pope Francis, known for his humble disposition, is gaining much support because of his desire to encourage Catholics to come back to the faith and help change the common perceptions of the Catholic Church. From his simple dress robes to his refusing to being privately chauffeured, Pope Francis is a man of the people. The Filipinos are overall very excited to welcome him considering Roman Catholicism is the majority religion there. Pope Francis even spoke to the archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Antonio Luis Tagle, saying that he has "high hopes for the Filipinos".
Cardinal Tagle said, "When I approached Pope Francis to assure him of the closeness and collaboration of the Filipinos, he said; 'I have high hopes for the Philippines. may your faith prosper, as well as your devotion to Our Lady and mission to the poor'".
President Aquino is encouraging the Filipinos to welcome Pope Francis and remarks, "As the first pope from outside Europe in a millenium, the first from Latin America, the election of Pope Francis brings with it the promise of renewal in the Catholic Church, as it strives to fulfill its mission here on earth". The Filipinos, and I'm sure the most of the rest of the world is eager to see Pope Francis fulfill his mission of bringing Catholics back to the faith.
It is no surprise that media outlets in the Philippines are supportive of the new pope - 82% of their population is Catholic. It'll be interesting to explore the views on the new Pontiff from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and other diverse ethnic groups around the region.
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Hi Mary,
ReplyDeleteI think if you're studying the Philippines then the Catholic Church is as good as topic to start your exploration. I have visited the Philippines for work quite a few times beginning in 1982 when they had dictator running the country. Although a dictator he was an ally to the U.S. during the Cold War, so we provided him assistance to battle the communist insurgency. I think most of us over time came to the conclusion that if we grew up in rural areas of the Philippines that were often very poor we too would have been communist insurgents fighting a corrupt government.
In 1986 Cardinal Sin was instrumental in the People Power Movement to oust the dictator Marcos, and then in 2001 he was instrumental in removing President Estrada because he was corrupt.
I watched the People Power Movement in 1986 closely and thought Cardinal Sin did the right thing. I'm not so sure about his involvement in politics in 2001, and apparently the Vatican wasn't either, because allegedly they sent Cardinal Sin a note telling him to remain apolitical.
As your exploring I would be interested to see what you find out about the Church's influence on Philippine's politics. I suspect that like in many other countries the Catholic Church is losing influence, but it is always possible that a new dynamic leader in the church could reinvigorate it. If the Church once again focuses on the poor that could be a force of good for the Filipino people. However it has been my experience that some of the most corrupt countries I have worked in have been largely Catholic, so will a strong Church be a force for good or more corruption?
The Catholic Church in the Philippines is actually in a bit of a crisis at the moment... read up on the recent (and ongoing) controversy over the recently passed Reproductive Health Law, providing greater access to contraception and sex education. The Church opposed it violently, effectively staking its political influence on the issue, and took a decisive loss. Church efforts to target the legislators who supported the bill are gaining little traction. The general perception is now that the "Catholic vote" is a bit of a myth. Criticism of the Church's aggressively political activities is growing, and some of the claims made have generated ridicule even among Catholics, notably claims that typhoon deaths are evidence of divine displeasure over the law, a claim by a CBCP spokesperson that a woman can have an abortion without being pregnant ("preventing conception is abortion"). The rather medieval practices and manners of the hierarchy are coming under increasing scrutiny. There is certainly a hope that the charisma of Cardfinal Tagle (who gained attention as a long-shot papal candidate) and a third-world Pope will gain greater sympathy, but I suspect that a bit more introspection and some real reform is called for.
ReplyDeleteI would question the extent to which Cardinal Sin's participation affected the 1986 overthrow of Marcos (I was there), but the perception of his role as central has become so widespread that it has become something approaching reality.
If you're interested in regional relations, Philippine popular perceptions of the current Sabah confrontation would make a fascinating subject for study...
Hi Mary,
ReplyDeleteYou've got the makings of a great social science research design here. It starts with the research question you pose above: how does a non-European Pope affect the international politics of 1) non-European/predominately Catholic states and 2) non-European/predominately non-Catholic states? Next step is to develop several "testable hypotheses." Political realists, for example, would probably hypothesize the affect will be negligible since only material power counts in international relations. Those who contend that "culture matters" (political liberals or constructivists, for example) would probably disagree, hypothesizing that some observable change should result from the selection of Pope Francis. A liberal hypothesis might be something like the new Pope will enhance (or constrain) the political influence of some domestic group within the Philippines (perhaps the Catholic Church), which, in turn, will influence the foreign policies of the Filipino government.
What's also cool about the question you pose is that you have the makings of an excellent "quasi-experiment" here. Social scientists can rarely engage in laboratory experiments, but sometimes they can construct quasi-experiments. If we take the Philippines as our case study, the "control group" is some Filipino institution (e.g., the church, the government) with a European Pope, and the "treatment group" consists of those same institutions with a non-European Pope (Francis). If there's no observable change, then maybe the realists are right. If, however, an analyst can show a significant change (variation) in some aspect of Filipino or regional international politics, then maybe culture matters after all.
Of course it will take some time to observe the treatment group since Pope Francis was just selected. For now, international relations scholars should by working on developing testable hypotheses.
Great job setting up this blog! I love the name!
All the best,
Roger
The problem here is of course to determine the extent to which any possible changes in the Philippine Chrch or the pattern of its influence in Philippine society are caused by the election of a 3rd world Pope, as opposed to other domestic influences. That's particularly complicated because the Philippine Church has been in a period of considerable stress for the last few years. There will be change, but the extent to which that change is attributable to any given factor will be difficult to determine.
DeleteA very good point, and you're right of course. Confounding variables makes causal inference more art than science in the social sciences. Still, diverse methodologies, both quantitative and qualitative, offer approaches for controlling (albeit imperfectly) these confounding factors. At the end of the day, our conclusions will only be probabilistic, but there are methods for assessing how confident we should be in our conclusion that, for example, the election of Pope Francis was either a necessary or sufficient cause of a given outcome.
DeleteUncle Rog stole the comment right from my mouth - albeit in a much more thorough and well developed manner!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that watching the Pope's influence in the region is an interesting place to start your journey. Typically, leaders have a brief period at the beginning of their role where they are able to set their mission and have numerous successes in a short time frame (in the US, we typically refer to this as the First Hundred Days for Presidents). I'd be interested to see what you learn about how Pope Francis uses this time and its effect on the Phillipines. Does he focus on contraception, abortion and a return to Latin Mass (typically aligned with more "conservative" and "traditional" Catholics) or does he focus on poverity alleviation and reuniting the church? How do those courses affect the politics of the region?
Really looking forward to what you are writing and learning. Sounds like an awesome project.
Kenzie
Hey, Kenz. Very interesting comment. Are you aware of any research on long-term political implications (domestic and international) of "the first 100 days" of a leader's (e.g., a Pope, a presidents, a dictator for life, a CEO) time in office? Seems like a leader's initial agenda should establish expectations of her/his future behavior, and that those expectations could influence future outcomes...even on issues in which the leader has little involvement. As you point out, it certainly seems like we (the media anyway) are trying to draw general conclusions from every move Pope Francis is making right now, from his request for prayer to the fact that he paid his own bill for his apartment.
DeleteThere's a significant literature in International Relations about the role of leaders in international politics, but I can't think of anything that directly speaks to initial agenda-setting and resulting expectations. Perhaps American Politics addresses this.
Anyway, Kenz, that's a terrific observation!! I see a paper in your future!
Roger
Mary: It is indeed an awesome project. I tried to get posted to the P.I. when your father was there, but could not get the position. Therefore, my current knowledge of the P.I. is limited, to say the least, but I read with interest the other blog comments from much older and wiser heads. Good luck with this project! --steve kirkwood.
ReplyDeleteMary my dear: At the unintentional risk of being sacriligious (Lord have mercy), here's a post for you. This weekend I was at a dinner party with an Italian priest. He told me that absolutely, positively, for sure, the Cardinal of Manila will be Pope. He said he is young, very charismatic and well liked, and that it was "just a matter of time" before he gets it. Very best regards from Khartoum.
ReplyDeleteHi Mary,
ReplyDeleteI applaud you for your courage to publish your thoughts to the world - that is very admirable and I hope it will help you sharpen your thought processes.
I wanted to help you think more critically about your description regarding the Pope as a "man of the people" - what does it truly mean to be a man of the people? Secondly, the statistical fact you cited regarding the Philippines as 82% Catholic - what does it mean to be a Catholic in the Philippines? What do practicing Catholics believe and what do they do?
For these two ideas that you wrote, I would like you think about the concept of Sto Nino and the Black Nazarene. The idea is that people pray to their own image and likeness - Sto Nino adored by the middle and upper class lavishly decorate the Child Christ with glitters - contrast this to the Black Nazarene - the suffering Christ carrying his cross - black in skin color - a image of Christ that the poor could identify with.
Thus even within the same religion, there are different expressions and interpretations - so what does 82% really mean? Is it monolithic? And what does man of the people mean? Could the majority of the population in the Philippines - poor and dark in skin color - could they identify with the Pope?
Something to think about... something to discuss with your dad who is one of the wisest men I have met... Aloha from your friend in Hawaii
Obviously this is a very American-centric perspective, but I can't help but question what the role of any pope has as the world evolves. I grew up Catholic, and while I no longer am involved in the faith, I found the election of Francis to be exciting and refreshing in a lot of respects. I know that other parts of the world (and seemingly the Philippines would be included) are much more religious than modern day Americans, but in general I can't help but question if a pope who isn't willing to address women as leaders (among other issues) in the church is outdated and likely to turn away Catholics around the globe. I think that in general the question is - what is the role of the pope in modern times? Diving deeper into that question brings about the regional influence, which I am unfortunately too uneducated about to respond to, but I think it is a great topic of discussion. Thank you for bringing the topic to light!
ReplyDelete