Padre Pio and the coming elections

Two major events happened in the last few weeks. The incorrupt heart of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina was toured in Manila, Cebu, and Davao, and hundreds of thousands lined up for hours to view the relic. Weeks before these events, smaller relics like his gloves and scabs from his wounds have also been going around minor cities in the Philippines. In the weeks that all these relics were displayed in some Catholic churches, more than a million people have visited and prayed to St. Padre Pio and the relics. There are also a number of Padre Pio Shrines in the Philippines that there are more than two million active Padre Pio devotees which with their families and influence can win elections. A number of politicians and would-be candidates were also seen in the long lines in the Manila and Cebu cathedrals for the 20-second stop in front of the glass-encased relics.

Padre Pio was a Capuchin priest who was born in Pietrelcina, Italy, in 1887 and died aged 81 in 1968. He was a sickly, pious, meditative priest who displayed during parts of his life, the same wounds of Jesus in his hands. His hands would bleed and wounds would appear but were never really infected. He would cover them most of the time but was inspected by doctors once in a while. He became a phenomenon that for a while, the Catholic Church prevented him from saying Mass and toned down the publicity. Eventually, after investigations showed that the incidents were real and validated, Padre Pio was beatified in 1999, 31 years after his death. He was canonized and declared a saint in 2002. I was aware of Padre Pio because my mother was already a devotee and she used to write to Padre Pio and she would get replies. She would pray to him in most of her prayers, and in the early 1960s when travel to Italy was difficult and expensive, with my father’s efforts and as her companion, they reached San Giovanni and attended mass with Padre Pio officiating. I think they must have talked to him, because my siblings always believed that many things that happened to our family were because of my mother’s prayers to Padre Pio.

The relevance of St. Padre Pio to the coming elections has to do with the ability of people, us Filipinos particularly, to “containerize” our moral values when it comes to politics and especially during elections. We admire the holiness and the moral values of the saints and the Catholic Church, but we elect politicians with warped moral values without feeling guilty. We attend masses, pray novenas, support Church causes while at the same time practice unethical business practices and support corrupt politicians and government functionaries. In the coming elections, we support and vote for candidates who fail the minimum moral standards of our parents. These same politicians are also ardent devotees of the Sto. Niño and the Black Nazarene and would endure long processions and sacrifices. Somehow, we are able to live with this without getting conflicted, because we put our religious values in one container, family values in another, our political values in another, and our business values in yet another. And we make sure these containers do not connect, influence, or integrate with each other.

I do not know how to resolve this dilemma, but it seems to me integrating our moral values will lead to a less stressful and more peaceful existence. Or eventually this will be resolved in heaven or hell.