Pope Francis takes the bull by the horns

I have always admired Pope Francis. Ever since he was elected by the College of Cardinals as the 266th Vicar of Christ he has done his best to make the Church more inclusive and more understanding, helping open the doors to bring back those who have been disillusioned for so long. Even the name he took – Francis – was a first and it was a telling sign of someone with the humility to look passed old biases and create a new future where everyone is included.

Pope Francis has been a big part of the faith of Filipinos too. Back in 2015 he flew all the way to the Philippines to commiserate with those who lost their loved ones during the Typhoon Yolanda disaster. His presence and his prayers did so much to uplift the broken hearts of those affected by the tragedy and even those who were not but were crying for our poor countrymen in the devastated areas. His trip made us feel like we were important and Pope Francis has a knack of doing that for everyone that crosses his path.

I truly believe he is doing his best – at the very least as best as the Church will allow him to do when it comes to opening the doors to more and more people and making the church more inclusive and welcoming. While outdated dogma may still hinder progress in some areas, Pope Francis is trying his best to make people feel welcome instead of feeling scared and alienated. He is trying to encourage more Catholics to be compassionate and this is such an important thing in the world that we are living in today.

Pope Francis is the pope that we need in this day and age. Everyone is so jaded and divisive politics are ripping countries and people apart. For all the progress we have made in the past decade it seems that all are crumbling down upon us now. And once again the racists and fascists are coming out of their hiding places and being emboldened by leaders who tell them it is okay to discriminate and to hate. In the face of rising exclusionism, Pope Francis is reminding us we should all try to accept one another and be open to one another. He has even met with religious leaders of other faiths and leaders of countries not particularly kind to the Catholic faith in the hopes of being able to, at the very least, open doors of communication.

But, the Pope is not without challenges. In fact he has so many they may seem insurmountable. He may head the Church but it is a centuries old institution with so many built in biases. As much as I love my faith, I know that there are things that need to change and that it’s going to be an uphill battle. Cardinals and priests who like to adhere strictly to doctrine and dogma are not always going to take kindly to Pope Francis’ approach and he’s going to struggle with many old-fashioned areas of the institution. But the Pope has the strength to push forward and I think it’s extremely important that he does.

Just recently the Pope expressed his fervent desire to fully address and face the multitude of accusations of sexual misconduct and child abuse hounding the Church. This is a scandal that has definitely hit hard and has shaken the faith of many. While it has been dealt with silently in the past – some even going so far to say “swept under the rug” – the Pope promises that this time it will be different. He is prepared to go after predators in the Church with utmost seriousness even going so far as to compare sexual abuse and pedophilia to “human sacrifice.”

I really hope he is successful in this endeavor and is able to begin the long process of weeding out those who harm the faith – and most especially the ones that target children. At a recently concluded four day summit the Pope met with his cardinals and outlined a road map that would provide concrete measures and steps that needed to be taken against pedophile priests. While this is still a work in progress, I hope it is the important first step towards addressing this growing problem.

We need to prune the tree in a very dramatic way and make the church a bastion of hope and not a place to be feared. Hopefully Pope Francis can herald in an era where the church feels safe once again. 

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I was very glad to read that the Social Security System reported a jump in 2018 member collections/contributions. This is important as a step to strengthening the fund and ensuring sustainability for the future – especially in the wake of increasing retirement and senior citizen benefits.

The problem in the past has always been if benefits were increased the fund would not survive and collapse. People were also wary of having their contribution costs increased to help level out the cost of increasing benefits as well. However, they should really look at it as part of their retirement plans. Alongside whatever personal retirement plans they are making, SSS is also a contributing factor and the more you put into it now the better the rewards you’ll be able to reap in the future.