Smugglers
It was indeed very touching and beautiful, as Rev. Fr. Randy Raagas of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Jugaban, Carigara, Leyte described it, for Pope Francis to become the very first pope ever to celebrate "Simbang Gabi" at the Vatican. Until Fr. Randy mentioned it on the second day of the nine-day "Simbang Gabi" novenas leading up to Christmas, I did not know it was a uniquely Filipino expression of faith.
Pope Francis celebrated "Simbang Gabi" at St. Peter's Basilica for the Filipino community in Italy in the afternoon of December 15, timed to be late evening in the Philippines, just as how it is done in one of only two ways, the other being at dawn. I started attending these dawn Masses at a very early age in what was then Wireless, Mandaue City and took it for granted that it was just another Catholic tradition, not one uniquely Filipino.
When Fr. Randy talked about it, I did not know it was already a hot item on the Internet by the time I got home. It was the wife who provided me with the other details. But none was even more touching and beautiful, at least uniquely to this transplanted Cebuano in Leyte, than in knowing that some of the songs sung during Pope Francis' Mass were in Cebuano, and that the pope was gifted afterward with an image of the Santo Niño de Cebu.
I have been here in the hometown of my wife for almost a year straight now, unable to visit Cebu even for a day, owing to circumstances that those who know me are now familiar with. And while I have more or less successfully become a Carigaran-on of sorts, I would be lying if I say I did not miss my Cebu terribly, especially my two daughters there. At least with my other daughter abroad, I have come to terms with the miles of separation.
It, therefore, meant a lot to me to know that not only Filipinos and the Philippines, but Cebu and the Cebuanos as well, had played a very significant role in the touching and beautiful gesture of Pope Francis. The pope must so love the Filipinos that he even tried to wean a very nasty word away from what has become its very unflattering association with certain types Filipinos.
Acutely aware of the immense and ever-growing Filipino diaspora, and how this has brought the Catholic faith even to places where it is all but banned, Pope Francis called these unintentional missionaries "smugglers of the faith." Erudite that he is, Pope Francis could have used a better word to describe the phenomenon of deep-seated faith travelling with Filipinos wherever the fates may take them in world.
That he had to use the word smugglers shows the pope is very well aware of the smuggling and other high shenanigans going on in and out of government. Perhaps it pains the pope to see that in one of the places where the faith is most vibrant and alive, it is also one of the places where the biggest sins keep getting committed.
Maybe the pope is very concerned about smuggling in the Philippines and had wanted to speak out but was held back by the need for charity especially in this season of giving. The term smugglers hurts even if the pain is assuaged somewhat by the word faith. And that is because we know why the pope used smugglers instead of some other less sensitive or provocative word.
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