Vanity Fair

The worst way to wake up squirming in the morning is to read the newspaper via Internet and find how much propaganda has been heaped by your government, particularly with reference to your church.

I am very appalled with the way the Arroyo Administration has been handling its publicity in relation to the Holy See. When John Paul II died, Gloria Arroyo gave an interview to CNN during the wake for the demised pontiff and said that she had received blessings to run for President from the deceased.

Now, a few months later, in an audience with Benedict XVI, Mrs. Arroyo claims that the present Pope does not look kindly toward the supposed meddling of the Philippine Catholic Hierarchy in Philippine secular politics. This, after presenting the Pope the signed resolution abolishing death penalty in the Philippines in an apparent move to court the Vatican's support in changing the Constitution.

While I personally support the abolition of the death penalty, the recent move of the Administration smells of politics and inconsistency. One only has to remember the photos of a docile and prayerful Gloria Arroyo in a rally in support of rape victim "Baby" Echegaray so as to cringe in disgust. After all, when you see the situation from a broader perspective, it would be much better to have a lawful way of punishing criminals than to have a paralegal way of silencing dissenters. No matter how meritorious the move is to be pro-life superficially, the rate journalists and activists are killed during this regime negates all claims of sanctity.

Then, as if this still wasn't enough, First Gentleman Mike Arroyo has begun his campaign to present for canonization two nuns from the Arroyo-Tuason clan. One of the nuns is Rosario Arroyo y Pidal, whose surname she most unfortunately shares some generations hence with the infamous Jose Pidal. I don't know how people are canonized as saints but if ever, this is the first time a secular government in recent times has involved itself in the declaration of who is blessed and who is not. We then are lead to the premise this Administration brandishes, that the Philippine bishops are meddling into politics. If this is not meddling in the canonical processes of the Catholic Church, I don't know what is. If Sor Rosario would be proclaimed blessed, I really hope the Vatican would change the Pidal surname to another. As a Catholic, I cannot bear to ask a blessed nun with Pidal in the name to intercede for me.

Tsk, tsk. With the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if this Administration asks for the canonization of La Gloria or the elevation to the cardinalate of Mike if and when it deems it fit.

***This post was taken from a friend’s Friendster blog.***