It began with the publication of the new Vatican constitution, Praedicate evangelium, on March 19, 2022.

Up to then, the Filipino cardinal had served as the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, the powerful curial department responsible for mission territories whose head is known as "the red pope."

(The appointment of New Zealand's bishops is made through the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. Ed.)

Tagle had arrived at the Vatican in 2020 in a blaze of publicity after eight years as the Archbishop of Manila.

He was known as "the Asian Francis," a charismatic speaker and servant of the poor often described as "papabile" despite his relative youth.

But in 2022, a new Vatican constitution absorbed the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples — formerly known as Propaganda Fide — into a new department, the Dicastery for Evangelisation, led directly by Pope Francis.

The department's day-to-day activities would be overseen "in his name and by his authority" by two "pro-prefects."

One pro-prefect would be responsible for the dicastery's first section, devoted to "fundamental questions regarding evangelisation in the world," and the other for the second section, "for the first evangelisation and new particular churches."

The dicastery was listed first among the Vatican departments in Praedicate evangelium, underlining its centrality in the reformed curia.

Observers assumed that Tagle would be pro-prefect of the second section. But curiosity grew when the Vatican failed to refer to the Filipino cardinal by that title.

In a press release days after the new constitution's publication, the Holy See press office described Tagle as the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

That was probably because the constitution only came into full force on June 5 that year.

But in July, the press office mentioned Tagle without giving a title.

That happened again in October and December.

It did the same for Archbishop Salvatore Rino Fisichella, who was widely believed to be pro-prefect of the dicastery's first section.

Speculation over Tagle's standing at the Vatican heightened in November 2022 when Pope Francis swept away the leadership of Caritas Internationalis, including Tagle, who had served as its president since 2015.

Had the cardinal fallen out of favour?

Not according to official Vatican media, which presented Tagle as one of the figures responsible for the organisation's renewal, rather than a casualty of the changes.

Only on Jan. 27 this year did the Holy See press office confirm what most people had originally thought: Tagle was indeed a pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation.

On Feb. 18, the press office indicated that he was in charge of the section for first evangelisation and the new particular churches, and Fisichella was responsible for the first section. Continue reading

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle (pictured left), whose second term as Caritas president was to end in May, has also lost his position.

Francis appointed a temporary administrator to oversee improved management policies and to prepare for the election of new officers in May.

Caritas Internationalis is a hub for 162 charitable organisations in 200 countries. Its mission is to serve the poor and most vulnerable. The Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development oversees it.

The Dicastery said a review by an independent panel on Caritas Internationalis's workplace environment found no evidence of financial mismanagement or sexual impropriety.

In a statement it said, however, "other important themes and areas for urgent attention emerged from the panel's work.

"Real deficiencies were noted in management and procedures, seriously prejudicing team-spirit and staff morale."

Pier Francesco Pinelli, a business management consultant, and two psychologists conducted the review, which included interviewing current and past employees.

Francis has now appointed Pinelli to temporarily oversee the Dicastery. Maria Amparo Alonso Escobar, a Caritas veteran, and the Rev. Manuel Morujão SJ will assist him.

Tagle will also assist Pinelli prepare for the future by taking "special care of relations with the local churches and the member organisations," the papal decree says.

The Dicastery says the officers' suspension "has no impact on the functioning of member organisations and the services of charity and solidarity they provide around the world.

"On the contrary, it will serve to strengthen such service."

Tagle says member organisations should be reassured knowing that the Pope's decision came after "a careful and independent study of the working environment of the secretariat and the governance exercised by the people and bodies in charge."

The papal decree, he said, is "a call to walk humbly with God" and be open to a process of discernment, which includes acknowledging shortcomings.

The announcement about the Caritas leaders' replacement came while about 100 Caritas representatives from around the world were having a two-day meeting in Rome.

They were reflecting on "how to strengthen local leadership within the confederation and enhance fraternal cooperation among member organisations".

In his decree, Francis said Caritas Internationalis assists him and the bishops "in the exercise of their ministry to the poorest and most needy, participating in the management of humanitarian emergencies and collaborating in the spread of charity and justice in the world in the light of the Gospel and the teachings of the Catholic Church.

"To improve the fulfilment of this mission it seems necessary to revise" the current regulations governing Caritas Internationalis, a task that Pinelli will guide, Francis said.

Pinelli says he hopes "to initiate processes of reconciliation and improvement that can bear fruit in the long run for this association".

The global "Share the Journey" campaign aims to build "bridges of hope between islands separated by fear," says Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, president of Caritas Internationalis.

Although the campaign has formally ended, its message continues. Communities are encouraged to change attitudes toward immigration by getting them to know their migrant neighbours.

"We gave ourselves a few challenges: not just seeing the migrants but looking at them with compassion; not just hearing their voice but listening to their stories and concerns; not just passing by the other side but stopping, as the good Samaritan, and living a moment of communion with them," Tagle says.

Anyone can get involved.

They can go on a sponsored or symbolic solidarity walk with refugees, invite migrants to shared meals, or light a virtual candle.

Some people may want to share messages or stories, which will be gathered into a compilation for Pope Francis.

Asked about ways to measure the success of the four-year "Share the Journey" campaign, both Aloysius John, secretary-general of Caritas Internationalis and Tagle spoke of individual encounters where people were "converted" to recognizing the migrant in their midst as a brother or sister.

"People have been touched in different ways, touched by the suffering," says John.

The ongoing campaign hopes to develop "a new consciousness, a new way of looking at people on the move and developing this culture where, instead of fear of the 'other,' we see a human person and we give them the love, the attention, that we know every human being deserves," Tagle says.

"We cannot set a time frame; we cannot say, 'At the end of 2021 everyone, including Caritas workers, should have been converted already.' We hope that happens, but knowing human freedom and human frailty," some people will need more time."

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing and with many nations claiming a need to protect their own citizens first, we face "the risk of intensifying selfishness and the fear of strangers," Tagle says.

The call is for everyone to show solidarity and " continue to share the journey with migrants, especially at this most difficult moment."

"The mission continues," Tagle says.

"Where there is indifference and intolerance toward migrants, Caritas will stand by them to express the love and concern of the Mother Church," John says.

His comment is echoed by Msgr Bruno-Marie Duffé, secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

He notes the campaign's key elements reflect Catholic teaching on migrants, beginning with the fact that they are human beings with dignity and rights to be protected.

Everyone has a journey, an intimate pain that haunts them and each of them has a hope: to be considered as a person, to be called by name, to be welcomed and recognized, he says.

Source

• Detroit Catholic
• Image: Caritas Internationalis

Those with the gift of listening are the biggest gift of all, he said.

Tagle, the newly appointed congregation head for the Evangelisation of Peoples was speaking with clergy and laity at the foundation blessing of the FABC Veritas Asia Institute of Social Communications in Radio Veritas Asia's Quezon City compound.

"Having a beautiful building in itself does not guarantee evangelisation. It (evangelisation) is the training and formation of people," said Tagle.

"Evangelization is communication. God is a God who communicates, who dialogues. But He is also a God who listens," Tagle said.

Nurture "the spirituality of listening, to God, to neighbours and to the signs of the times," he urged.

"We are all in a hurry, rushing to say something, to issue a statement even when we have not heard yet".

"We have already something prepared without knowing what the question or statement is," he said to laughter among senior clergy.

"Listening comes first," Tagle stressed.

"Many people are longing for someone and a community to listen. Even if you have no words, you communicate your presence, your compassion, your unity."

While new savvy is needed to navigate the minefields of the digital revolution and artificial intelligence, Tagle said the Catholic Church must hone other kinds of intelligence, like that needed to understand context, reports ABS-CBN News.

Without context, communicators cannot collapse complex ideas to meet the demands of the digital age, he said.

Developing his comments, Tagle emphasised the importance of relational intelligence in evangelisation and communications.

Relational intelligence allows communities to avert conflicts before they erupt or quickly resolving conflicts that break out, he said.

"In our world today, so much fear, suspicion and prejudice. We don't know whom to trust,"

"We need people who can generate that atmosphere of trust," he said.

Sources

• ABS-CBN
• CathNews

And some observers wonder if this is the start of a trend that could continue in 2020, when at least two more such posts are expected to come free.

• French Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who has led the Congregation of Bishops since 2010, will conclude a second five-year term in the role on June 30.
• Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, who heads the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, passed the conclusion date of his first term this Nov. 23.

"Francis is really beginning to put together a team of his own inside the Curia," said Marco Politi, a respected Italian journalist who is author of nearly a dozen books on the Vatican.

"Many of Francis' supporters have criticized him behind the scenes for not having put in place a spoils system at the Vatican and for not putting people dedicated to his reform agenda in key posts," said Politi, a former long-time Vatican correspondent for the daily newspaper La Repubblica.

"Future appointments to the posts now occupied by Cardinals Sarah and Ouellet will permit Francis to create a more uniform leadership at the Vatican's highest levels," he said.

Although Francis' plans for Ouellet and Sarah are unknown, Ouellet turned 75, the traditional retirement age for bishops and cardinals, last June. Sarah will turn 75 in June 2020.

A third Vatican official who appears near retirement is Italian Cardinal Beniamino Stella, the prefect for the Congregation of the Clergy, who is 78 and passed the limit on his five-year term on Sept. 21, 2018.

The Vatican does not publicize Francis' choices on whether or not to renew his officials' terms of office.

In response to a question regarding whether Francis has renewed Stella or Sarah's mandates, the director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni, noted that heads of Vatican offices frequently serve beyond the dates of expiration of their terms, at the pope's discretion.

Massimo Faggioli, a theologian and historian who has written extensively on Francis' papacy, said he did not know whether the pontiff might be wanting to free up space at the top of Vatican offices in order to call in allies.

"This is an open question for me," said Faggioli, a professor at Villanova University. Earlier in his papacy, said the theologian, Francis appeared to think that "he could do without the Curia."

"I don't know if he has changed his mind compared to the first years," said Faggioli. "It is very possible."

Neither Ouellet nor Sarah have openly criticized Francis. Both have, however, made clear that they disagree with the pontiff in certain areas.

Ouellet, for example, publicly opposed the proposal of October's Synod of Bishops for the Amazon to allow for the priestly ordination of married men on a limited basis in order to meet sacramental needs in the nine-nation region.

And the cardinal held a book launch at the Vatican days before the start of the synod for a volume enunciating his views, titled Friends of the Bridegroom: For a Renewed Vision of Priestly Celibacy.

For his part, Sarah famously waited a year to implement a 2014 request from Francis that he issue a decree making clear that women are allowed to participate in Holy Thursday foot-washing rites. Continue reading

Speaking to Filipino media, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said synod media coverage was correct, but focussed on same-sex unions and divorced people.

Yet the synod fathers also discussed families separated by economic migration, the danger of pornography and domestic violence, he said.

"This got less coverage," he noted.

The prelate also lamented "the lack of Asian and African journalists" covering the Vatican, saying that "coverage of the synod was still dominated by the West".

But Cardinal Tagle said the Church recognises that the world is becoming increasingly complex.

"[It recognises] that each of us must be comfortable with diversity and complexity. We cannot be shocked if there are different opinions.

"The Christian tradition but also the Word of God and the teachings of the Church, over time, have shown their richness.

"They are not monochromatic or dull. Those that seem different opinions may instead be different facets of the same reality."

Cardinal Tagle also said labelling people as conservative, liberal or traditionalist is a way of preventing true listening.

Meanwhile, speaking in Poland, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith took issue with media announcing a coming revolution in the Church.

Cardinal Gerhard Muller said the recent synod should be considered revolutionary only in attempting to combat "sin and egoism" and foster "a culture of life rather than death".

"But there's no political democracy in the Church, as Benedict XVI has said - nor can there be any revolution in the popular understanding of the word," Cardinal Müller added.

"From the very beginning, a great revolution of Jesus was carried out in the Church, and this has its centre in God and never loses its significance."

Sources

• Asia News
• The Tablet
• Image: Google News

Bishop Pedro Arigo of Puerto Princesa said activities during the Pope's visit from January 15 to 19 should be "simple and not extravagant".

"Sometimes people treat occasions like this as if a celebrity is coming. I hope people will instead look at what message Pope Francis is trying to tell us," Bishop Arigo said.

He told Radyo Veritas that Pope Francis was displeased with the extravagant receptions after the canonisations of Sts John Paul II and John XXIII earlier this year.

"We should make [the activities] simple because if we make it too extravagant that will be an insult to the poor," Bishop Arigo said.

Earlier this year, graffiti depicting the Pope as superman appeared in Rome.

Francis rejected the hype surrounding his papacy, saying he is a "normal person" and calling comparisons between himself and Superman "offensive".

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has said that Pope Francis wants his visit to the Philippines "to be pastoral and simple".

"Central to the visit of the Pope is to show solidarity and compassion to victims of calamities," the cardinal said.

He said that Pope Francis wants to have an "encounter" with those who suffered recent calamities, especially in the central Philippines where Super Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 10,000 people and left millions homeless last November.

The Philippine bishops' conference in a pastoral statement last month said the underlying spirit of the papal visit to the country is "mercy and compassion".

The bishops encouraged the faithful to prepare for the Pope's visit by spending more time in prayer.

Pope Francis will be the third pontiff to visit the country after Pope John Paul II in 1995 and Pope Paul VI in 1970.

Before Pope Francis arrives in the Philippines, he will visit Sri Lanka from January 12-15.

He is scheduled to make a visit to Korea from August 14-18, next week.

Sources

• UCA News
• Vatican Radio
• National Catholic Reporter
• Telegraph
• Image: Time

In an article posted on the Philippines bishops' conference website, Cardinal Tagle said saying "the Lord be with you" is already sufficient.

"With all due respect, my brother-priests, I do not see the need for saying ‘good morning' and similar greetings when God's real presence in the Holy Eucharist alone suffices," the cardinal said.

"Is not the expression ‘The Lord be with you' more than enough?" he added.

Any person can wish another good morning, but "The Lord be with you" is heard only during Mass, which explains why it must be emphasised, he explained.

The cardinal made these remarks in a homily during a Corpus Christi Mass at Santa Cruz Church in Manila.

Continue reading

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila told the Catholic News Service he found the responses "shocking, if I am allowed to use that word".

"Shocking because almost in all parts of the world, the questionnaires indicated that the teaching of the Church regarding family life is not clearly understood by people," he said.

"And the language by which the Church proposes the teaching seems to be a language not accessible to people," he added.

"So this is my hope, not for change - how can you change the biblical teachings?

"But maybe a real pastoral and evangelical concern for the Church: How do we present the good news of the family to this generation, with its limitations, with its greatness, with its unique experiences?

"We should not be talking only to one another," Cardinal Tagle continued.

"The gospel of the family, the good news that is the family, should be presented to families where they are and how they are," the cardinal added.

In February, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Tagle as one of three presidents of the synod.

The cardinal said that in the Philippines, poverty can cause couples to separate.

Couples are forced to find jobs elsewhere in the Philippines or in other countries and that separation contributes to major challenges for families, especially children, he said.

At the synod in October, bishops will examine responses to the Vatican survey which included questions on communion for divorced and remarried persons, same-sex couples and teaching on contraception.

A second synod in October 2015, will seek to establish guidelines in the pastoral care of the person and the family.

English Cardinal Vincent Nichols warned that it would not be "a speedy process about one or two key issues".

Cardinal Nichols said he had been struck by one survey respondent who stated: "The Church needs to uphold marriage but create space for where it fails."

He said this "captures the heart" of how the Church must respond during the synod process.

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• The Tablet
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

Wandering children become "the main victims of jackals who seize them for child abuse or human trafficking," he told the Fides news agency.

"It is a horrible prospect, but it is extremely realistic in the case of natural disasters. These children are in need of immediate attention, to be saved from the clutches of traffickers and pedophiles."

"Under the pretext of saving or taking care of children, traffickers kidnap them and sell them to pedophiles," he added.

"Or they earn large sums of money by providing the children for illegal adoptions. Even worse, they introduce them into the world of prostitution, making them slaves of sexual exploitation."

The little ones will go down in history as "the lost children of Haiyan" he said.

Taking the chaos a stage further, the Apostleship of the Sea UK is warning of the long-term impact of Typhoon Haiyan.

"There is a danger that in a few months' time, when the media focus has shifted elsewhere, these people will be forgotten," said Fr Bruno Ciceri, of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Immigrant People.

Cardinal Tagle grateful

Still suffering from emotional and psychological shock, Cardinal Tagle says he still remains speechless when seeing images of the destruction.

Acknowledging the world interest in Typhoon Haiyan, the cardinal says he is drawing strength "from the love, the concern, the solidarity pouring in, not just from other parts of the Philippines but from all over world."

Cardinal Tagle says he wants to thank everyone from around the world for remembering the victims of Typhoon Haiyan and for reaching out.

Sources

• Fides
• Vatican Radio
• Apostleship of the Sea
• Image: Hope for the Sold

"I don't know why people, especially the media, are making an interview that looks very normal, and does not say anything new doctrinally... sound controversial," Tagle told ucanews.com in an interview at the weekend.

While the pope's interview talked about issues such as humility, the need for community, and discernment and reform in the Church, most media reports and commentaries focused on abortion, gay marriage, divorce, contraception and women in Church leadership.

Tagle said the pope was not saying anything "revolutionary" but the media made the interview sound "sensational".

"My suggestion is this: I hope people will read the interview with the pope carefully [so that] they will realize that there's nothing controversial there," the Manila prelate said.

"I got hold of the Italian original. I don't know what they did with the translation, but in the original Italian, it was a normal interview," he said.

"Let them read and understand what the pope is really saying before any sensational comment is made," Tagle added.

Source

UCA News

Image: UCA News

"The eyes of the Vatican are on us," Tagle said in a statement released by his office at the weekend.

The Manila prelate said the Vatican Office of the New Evangelization and the Synod of Bishops are eager to know and experience the activities prepared for the Philippine Conference on New Evangelization, to be held October 16-18 in Manila.

He said the Asian gathering aims to counter "secularist influences" hounding the Church in Asia and to respond to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's call to rediscover and deepen the Catholic faith.

"The challenge was not just to focus on the negatives or the shadows found in the world but also on the opportunities for mission," Tagle said.

He said he hopes delegates will be directed toward the "rediscovery and rejuvenation of their faith, keeping the Church's mission of new evangelization in synch with the modern times."

The Manila meeting will carry a "tripartite objective" of "creating an experience of God in the context of the challenges of the new millennium, strengthening bonds of communion, and providing avenues of inspiration and direction imbued with the spirit of new evangelization."

Dubbed as the "grand climax" of the Year of Faith celebration in Manila, the three-day conference will features talks, workshops, and activities that tackle "modern day approaches to deepen one's faith and spirituality."

Source

UCA News

Image: UCA News

The point of view of one voting Cardinal which wasn't expressed in these days, but was reported at the Synod of Bishops on Evangelization in October last year, came from the Cardinal Archbishop of Manila, Luis Antonio Tagle. Among the hundreds of comments made at that Synod, many of them forgettable, his have remained unforgettable. He said, briefly, that the Church of the time to come must be "more simple, more humble, with a more developed capacity for silence."

I'm struck by his choice of these three qualities. I think I know what he means when he speaks of the Church needing to have a more developed capacity for silence.

This capacity for contemplative silence is a particularly positive feature of Christianity in Asian cultures and countries. It's a capacity to be still, to watch contemplatively, to reflect, to welcome the thoughts of others, to pause before acting. It comes from a soul at peace, and it shows itself in quiet joy. I've found this particularly in the Cathedral in Singapore on a Sunday Mass. I've frequently noticed that visitors to the Church have been moved to tears at these celebrations of Word and Eucharist.

I've got no bets on anyone in particular who may emerge as our next Pope, and to be honest, I'm not particularly worried about who it might be.

But I am passionately interested in what the Church might become under the Pope's leadership.

I would love to see our Church becoming simpler, humbler, and more capable of silence.

Fr Craig Larkin is a New Zealand priest who lives in Rome

The 55-year-old Archbishop of Manila, who will receive his red hat from Pope Benedict XVI on November 24, has a Facebook page with 100,000 fans and his YouTube commentaries on the Sunday readings go viral each week.

Continue reading

Luis Antonio Tagle, 54, seen as one of the leading theological minds among the Asian bishops, was installed as the 32nd archbishop of Manila Dec. 12, after being named to the position by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 13.

Though Tagle has been hailed as a rising Asian star and even a possible papal contender, a mid-November article by veteran Italian journalist Sandro Magister suggested that some in the Vatican may have second thoughts, related to an article Tagle authored for a history of Vatican II edited by Italian scholars Giuseppe Alberigo and Alberto Melloni, exponents of a progressive current in Italian Catholicism known as the "Bologna school."

Traditionally a politically important See, the Manila position was held by the iconic Cardinal Jamie Sin, and a mis-understanding in typing the domain name meant visitors expecting to see the Manila bishop's installation ceremony were instead re-directed to another site showing a scantily-clad transvestite dressed in lingerie, lying on a couch.

Originally it was thought to be the work of hackers, however Peachy Yamsuan, head of the Archdiocese's communication's office admitted it was an 'honest mistake'.

"Please be informed that I was the one who committed the mistake of putting in our website story the wrong TV Maria website for live streaming and I'm sorry for the confusion it has caused," Yamsuan said.

Yamsuan said she learned about her mistake from priests.

Archbishop Tagle is known as a humble man who does not own a car, goes to work by bus and rides a cheap bike.

Speaking at the start of Mass marking his installation, Tagle thanked God for the opportunity to serve.

"I appear before you as one who serves. You are God's precious gifts to me as I start my ministry here," he said.

Tagle hosts the Philippines' lone catholic weekly catechetical television programme, "The Word Exposed" and himself is tech-savvy; a regular Facebook user.

Sources

• Vatican Insider
• ABC
• Philippine Daily Inquirer
• Image: Archbishop Tagle