Humble shepherd

Last Thursday,   many were pleasantly surprised to wake up to  TV news of a new Shepherd of  the Catholic Church.   Habemos Papam.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a Jesuit cardinal from Buenos Aires, Argentina was selected by the members of the Conclave of Cardinals after five rounds of  voting.

When the new pope appeared for the first time at the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica,  the first thing he did was to ask the people at  St. Peter’s Square to bless him before he gave his papal blessing.

Choosing  Francis as his name, after St. Francis of Assisi,  the new pope with his   rare gesture and  humility was reported by the media  around the world. As a cardinal, Padre Jorge did not use a   limousine when he went to his office  and did not reside in the palace assigned to him but rented a small apartment in Buenos Aires. He took a bus or the subway to move around.

After he was elected pope, he didn’t use the papal limousine either but took a bus assigned to the cardinals in Rome.  He also paid for his own hotel room where he stayed to attend the Conclave.

What  we have seen so far of Pope Francis is  rare conduct compared with that of some priests in our country, in fact the opposite of what we see today.

Francis is the  epitome of a great Christian leader,  truly a God-filled image who  should be emulated by the clergy.

I am very thankful to God Almighty for giving us a   humble and simple Holy Father especially at a time when the Church is being confronted with many controversies.

Pope Francis chose to wear  an ordinary white papal cassock, not the red robe  usually worn by a new pope appearing for the first time in the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Like many Catholics I am elated and humbled by the simplicity he has shown. I hope this sets off a  new trend among  priests today because  arrogance has no place in our churhces.

In his audience  with the cardinals  yesterday morning (Philippine time), he  met with each one and had a short talk with all of them.

I hope that when it was the turn of Cardinal  Chito Tagle, he invited the Holy  Father to the Eucharistic Congress scheduled in Cebu on 2016. I hope Pope Francis will take the opportunity to visit our country and bless the  Filipinos.

Let me ask our community to continue praying for the Pope and all our priests so that they may continue to serve and guide the people to be steadfast in Catholic teachings and in confronting challenges especially on the Reproductive Health law and other anti-life bills in Congress that favor same sex marriages and divorce.

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The  Cebu City Council recently approved an amendment to an ordinance  that would  mandate the monthly release of the P10,000  annual cash assistance to  senior citizens. This goes counter to the decision of Mayor Michael Rama to release the aid quarterly. At first the City Council  passed a budget ordinance that mandated the release in June  but got  very bad reactions from  senior citizens.

So  to outdo the mayor, the council now wants the cash assistance released on a monthly basis.  They didn’t  realize that it was impractical  for the treasurer’s office to do this for about 60,000 senior citizens every month, a work load that makes it appear as if the treasurer has no other function to perform.

In my  experience in the Senate where I was working with Sen. Albeto G. Rumolo, then chairman  of the sub-committee of the committee on appropriation, the function of the legislative department is limited to review and approval of  the budget submitted by the executive department.

We never had the legislative department assign a date or schedule as to when the budget should be released because that role belongs to the executive department.

I can safely say that  the City Council  was  acting way beyond the exercise of its power and practically  encroached  the domakn of the executive department or the mayor.