MikeLigalig.com

Tagle’s newly gained “international stature” for being considered a “papabile” in the conclave that elected Argentine Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio as the new Pope bodes well for the Church in the Philippines, an activist priest said.
Even if he was not elected Pope, “Chito (Tagle’s nickname) has reached an international stature [that gives him] an opportunity to bring fresh air to the Philippine Catholic Church,” said Fr. Robert Reyes.

Reyes and Tagle were classmates at San Jose Seminary in Quezon City.

Reyes, interviewed a day before it was known that a new Pope had been elected, said Tagle had that “sense of humor that can heal broken  priests.”

“He will not condemn you, make you feel you’re such a bad person or you’re beyond redemption, but he will give you hope. That’s what we need right now,” said Reyes, known as the running priest.

He said he and Tagle might not be in agreement on certain issues, like the reproductive health law, but they did not “adversely” react to each other.

In one of the alumni homecomings in the seminary, Reyes remembered Tagle as saying: “Robert and I are quite different. I’m the flying bishop, most of  the time in my luggage flying from one meeting to another, while Robert keeps running.”

Reyes earned the  “running priest” moniker because he used running events to dramatize his political and environmental advocacies.

The priest said Tagle’s return from Vatican City would be an opportunity for the prelate to lift the morale of Filipino Catholics.

The Catholic Church is a “broken Church” faced with several abuse scandals and cases of priests violating their vows of celibacy, said Reyes.

“It’s a wounded and a wounding Church,” he said.


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=71361.0

A priest who had great affection for Tagle tricked him into taking the entrance exam for  Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary in Quezon City instead of taking the entrance exam for Ateneo, Arevalo narrated.

Tagle passed the exam with very high marks, got a scholarship and then entered the seminary to try it and see,  Arevalo added.

Today, Tagle, the second-youngest member of the College of Cardinals, has been dubbed the “Great Asian Hope,” “Rising Star” and “Golden Child.”

The 55-year-old cardinal from a working-class family has a reputation across the country as a humble man.

He exemplified humility even when he was pursuing his graduate studies. Tagle had to take on a menial job when his scholarship fund dried up while he was studying in the United States in the early 1990s.

He ran out of funds when Fr. Carl Peter, a prominent American theologian who obtained the scholarship for him, died during his last year of graduate studies at Catholic University of America in Washington.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=71361.0

Tagle grew up in his parent’s two-story house in Poblacion 1-C, within walking distance to the cathedral. At the back of the main house, the Tagle couple built houses for each of their sons where they stayed whenever they came home to visit.

On Tuesday, the house whose front yard Manuel Sr. swept every morning and which Milagros kept open to people every Christmas Day was closed to visitors. Only the housekeeper, Delia, was left to watch over the house when the couple left for Vatican City on Friday.

Ignacio, who owns a beauty salon across from the Tagle home, is a member of  Apostolado ng Panalangin, a religious organization,  giving her the opportunity to work with Tagle for a long time.

She has kept the pictures, as well as newsletters and magazines that featured Tagle, including one with the cardinal’s autograph.

Ignacio said Tagle, who calls her “Ti Vicky,” short for Auntie Vicky, was like a son to her. She said Tagle grew into a fine man who never lost his sense of humor.

When Tagle celebrated his 50th birthday, she said she gave him a kiss. “Then he told me,  ‘now I feel like a Sto. Niño,’” she said.

Ignacio said Tagle always had the “charisma that encourages people to hear Mass and understand the homily.” (With a report from Inquirer Research)




Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=71361.0