Dumaguete Bishop Calls for Prayers for Pope, Catholic Church

DUMAGUETE CITY – Bishop Julito Cortes of the Diocese of Dumaguete has called on the clergy and the faithful to offer prayers for Pope Francis in the midst of the challenges and accusations hurled against the Catholic Church.

“As I have said in my homilies in several churches already, the call for us is really to pray, especially for the Holy Father,” Bishop Cortes said in an interview Wednesday.

“We need to support Pope Francis in these times because his leadership is being challenged, but I believe that he is a man who is seeking for the truth and he is a man who is deeply centered on the Lord Jesus, centered on God and tries to lead us closer to the truth about God, the truth from God,” he said.

He said he does not have any reason to believe that Pope Francis is “trying to lead us away from the basic doctrine of the Church.”

“So I support him, I personally support him and pray for him that he may have the wisdom to be able to resolve these challenges that he is facing,” Bishop Cortes said, and for the Pontiff to address them “in a way that will really help the church move forward.”

He did not elaborate on the issues Pope Francis is facing but was apparently referring to the calls for the latter’s resignation.

“He may have the consolation that he needs especially in these times of trial but I believe also that it is to him that the promise of the Lord Jesus to Peter applies,” Cortes said, referring to what Jesus had told Peter in the Gospel of Matthew.

Citing the Biblical verse where Jesus had told Peter: “Upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.

The Dumaguete prelate firmly believes that the Catholic Church will overcome these trials and challenges and said this is one reason that he is supporting Pope Francis.

“But I believe that he (Pope Francis) will be eventually given the wisdom to resolve this humongous problem that the Church is facing now,” Cortes said.

“Theologically, based only on what I have understood and what I know, Pope Francis has not changed any doctrine, any basic doctrine of the Church. What I have observed and what I have understood is that he has tried to open our eyes that in the living out of the commandments of God and the commandments of the Church, that there are many who have been alienated, moved into the peripheries,” he added.

“And what he is trying to do is not to say that they are right but that they need to be accompanied and that pastors need to accompany and then to discern, and then to integrate them with the rest of the Church. That is what I learned from what he is trying to do,” Cortes said.

In his homily during the ordination of a new priest and a new deacon on Tuesday, he said people must focus on Jesus, who is the model of priesthood and ministry and more so in these trying times.

Cortes challenged the newly ordained priest, Fr. Alvin Villaflores, and newly ordained deacon, Rev. John Renil Quillope, “to be shepherds after the heart of the Good Shepherd, Jesus, who was really willing to lay down his life for his sheep.”

The same message and a formula given by the Holy Father recently were also shared not only to the newly ordained but to the Dumaguete clergy as well.

“What I shared with them is the formula the Holy Father gave to the bishops which I believe is applicable to priests as well,” he said.

In the face of all these challenges, the three-pronged formula includes prayer, humility, and service to the people, he said.

“Pray, because the Lord Jesus is praying for you and then pray for yourselves. You have been chosen by God and you have the aid that you need,” Cortes said, quoting the Pontiff in a paraphrase.

Second, to be humble means “instead of probably reacting in anger or pride or violence, I believe that the Pope is the best example to that because he is really challenged right now.”

“And I realize that in leadership one has to be humble because humility is in keeping with patience, forbearance, docility and that one can bear the insults sometimes,” according to the bishop.

Cortes added that priests must remain close to the people because that is where they get the support “and you are needed by the people, especially the poor” rather than thinking first of themselves. (PNA)