[The Wide Shot] Let Cardinal Sin rest

Twenty years after his death, the name of Jaime Cardinal Sin, the late, great archbishop of Manila, is still invoked the way we call on a patron saint.

“We miss Cardinal Sin.” “We need Cardinal Sin.” “Where is Cardinal Sin?”

We see many such comments in times of political crisis, when many Filipinos yearn for a leader who would call them to the streets, the way the cardinal did in 1986. It was Sin’s appeal on Church-run Radio Veritas that prompted Filipinos to troop to EDSA from February 22 to 25, 1986, leading to the ouster of dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos in the People Power revolt. 

Sin, who died of renal failure at 76, remains a gold standard for many, the benchmark against which Catholics measure the effectiveness of bishops in spurring people to action.

Even now, as public anger boils over the corruption of flood control projects, the name of Sin has come up from time to time. 

When the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) released a statement this weekend against the flood control mess, one commenter on Rappler’s Facebook page said: “Gone are the days when the Catholic Church led protests against corruption. How I miss Cardinal Sin.”

It is, of course, untrue that the Catholic Church no longer leads anti-corruption protests. I know because I cover many of them. But I understand the reader’s subtext: “Where is the powerful voice, the powerful figure, the powerful Church that can face off against abusive people in power?” It’s part of our longing, primed in part by a misguided faith, for a single savior who can save our nation once and for all.

What a timely reminder, then, was a homily on Sin’s 97th birth anniversary at the Manila Cathedral on August 31.

The homily — delivered by no less than Sin’s former private secretary, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas — was an appeal to Filipinos: Let Cardinal Sin rest.

Reflecting on the political and social problems, Villegas said: “People ask, ‘Where is God?’ People ask, ‘Where is the shepherd?’ People ask, ‘Where is the voice who should lead us?’ I will say don’t ask where God is, because if we have not given space for God, God will not insist.”

God cannot be there, he said, “when civil service is replaced by civil opportunism,” including graft and corruption, “when mercy is replaced with hypocrisy,” and “when we manufacture our own truths.”

“My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t wish we had Cardinal Sin in 2025. Let him rest,” said Villegas, 64, whom the late cardinal treated like a son.

“But wish that we had more humility in 2025, because that is the root of all our problems — the humility to give God a space in our social lives; the humility to give God a space for our lips, so that only truth comes from our lips; the humility to accept that we need mercy, and we have the capacity to show mercy based on truth, based on justice,” Villegas said.

He was speaking in the context of a reflection on “the humility of the Gospel” — and the pride of the devil, whose motto in Latin is “non serviam” or “I will not serve.” The motto of the humble servant, on the other hand, is “Serviam” — “I will serve.” It was also Sin’s motto as bishop.

“My dear brothers and sisters, we do not need another Cardinal Sin,” said the Sin protégé. “We only need the perpetual virtue of humility — when we speak the truth from humility, when we show mercy and ask for mercy with humility, when we serve and refuse government opportunism, we will have hope.”

In a Rappler Talk interview in 2022, the archbishop and I also tackled the same topic — the Filipino Catholic fixation for a “Cardinal Sin figure” especially in times of political crisis.

Villegas said in Filipino: “We are thankful to Cardinal Sin and we are thankful to God, that during those times, there was someone like him. But those times were extraordinary, and all of us are guided by God in every episode of history. So I hope that we let Cardinal Sin rest, let us not disturb him.”

He hoped Filipinos can see that “even if we do not have a Cardinal Sin now, like the Cardinal Sin in the 1980s, other things have been given to us” right now. “What are those? Our enlightened laity, our empowered laity, our empowered poor. We need to look at those.”

“Let’s not dream of having another Cardinal Sin, because Cardinal Sin was one-of-a-kind for a one-of-a-kind chapter in our history. And in every episode of history, God is always there, sending us guides and lighthouses. Perhaps we have graces from God that we fail to notice, because we are always looking at the past,” Villegas said.

We need to outgrow the need for a voice to spur us to action, and find in ourselves the power to change society through personal efforts. Even the Christian faith, which teaches that Christ saved us once and for all, requires the flock to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and clothe the naked on the savior’s behalf.

Power is also ours. We are also accountable.

Villegas, in a reflection on Saturday, September 6, on the flood control mess, said it begins with self-reflection.

“One hundred million Filipinos repenting one by one — that is the start. Let us stop cursing at God. Let us abandon our blindness to God, our deafness to righteousness, our numbness to others,” said Villegas.

This self-reflection, which involves an admission of sins, should eventually lead to a response: What can I do to help?

On Sunday, September 7, we witnessed a commendable example in the Diocese of Kalookan led by Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, bishop of Kalookan and president of the CBCP.

The Diocese of Kalookan on Sunday launched its Access to Justice Ministry, an effort to enlist volunteer lawyers and paralegals to help Filipinos without access to legal aid. 

The launch at the San Roque Cathedral was attended by Rafael Vicente Calinisan, vice chairman of the National Police Commission, and Arnold Valenzuena, the pro bono lawyer of Jayson dela Rosa.

Dela Rosa was the latest victim of police abuse, after police officers arrested him over allegedly fabricated charges. The detention of Dela Rosa, in a tragic series of events, eventually led to the death of his 20-year-old son Dion Angelo, who waded in floodwater to look for his father, and eventually died of leptospirosis.

David lamented that, unfortunately, people like Dela Rosa have no lawyers because they have no money.

Introducing the Access to Justice Ministry, David said, “We want to ensure, through this ministry, that even the poorest will have an equal opportunity to be heard and be defended if they are arrested and accused — or to know their human rights, even before they are arrested or accused.”

The cardinal cited the late president Ramon Magsaysay, who said that “those who have less in life should have more in law.”

I hope more Filipinos will take up the challenge of using their professions — law, medicine, accountancy, and more — to help the poorest Filipinos.

It’s consistent with the Catholic Church’s move toward greater “synodality” — coming from the Greek root words syn (together) and hodos (to walk) — that seeks a less top-down and more grassroots Church. The Filipino Catholic Church, in this model pushed by Pope Francis and continued by Pope Leo XIV, is not the CBCP. It is the entire People of God in the Philippines.

It’s also consistent with the global trend toward greater civic engagement, an antidote against the autocratic rule by governments and big tech around the world. We seek such engagement even at Rappler, as we encourage community members to join our crowdsourcing and crowdfunding campaigns, including Rappler+.

So where do we go from here?

The CBCP’s pastoral letter on the flood control mess, released by the conference on Saturday, lists nine “concrete steps we must take together” to stamp out corruption in government:

1. Be vigilant and vocal

2. Reject patronage politics
3. Model honesty in daily life 
4. Build communities of truth 
5. Join civic and parish initiatives 
6. Support an independent probe
7. Demand justice, not impunity 
8. Lead by example in the Church 
9. Live modestly, resist excess 

The 66-year-old David appealed especially to the Filipino youth: “To our young people: you hold the keys to a new culture. You live in the digital space where truth and lies battle daily. Use your platforms not only for outrage, but for vigilance. Expose injustice, share facts, demand reforms. Make corruption shameful again.” 

When we have the weapons within, why wait for a Cardinal Sin? – Rappler.com

The Wide Shot is a Sunday column on religion and public life. If you have suggested topics or feedback, let us know in the Faith chat room of the Rappler app.