Filipinos, Their Faith Strong but Shifting, Hail Pope  - NYTimes.comFilipinos, Their Faith Strong but Shifting, Hail Pope  - NYTimes.com






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Asia Pacific 
Filipinos, Their Faith Strong but Shifting, Hail Pope 

By FLOYD WHALEYJAN. 15, 2015
 
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Pope Francis Arrives in Manila




Pope Francis Arrives in Manila

Pope Francis was met by throngs of well-wishers when he arrived in the deeply Catholic Philippines on Thursday night.

Publish Date January 15, 2015.
                            

                                    Photo by Wally Santana/Associated Press.
                            




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MANILA —  Cheering throngs greeted Pope Francis when he arrived in the deeply Catholic Philippines on Thursday evening, the first papal visit in 20 years to a country whose church is struggling with profound social changes and a decline in political power.The visit comes on the heels of a major loss for the church, the enactment of a reproductive health law to provide free contraception to women, a measure the church had steadfastly opposed for years. The law, upheld by the Supreme Court last year, was supported by a wide majority of Catholics.But Francis’ message of reform and inclusiveness resonates with many Catholics here, whose attitudes toward politics and social issues have evolved faster than those of their often conservative clergy, analysts say. 

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“There were four million people gathered when Pope John Paul II came to Manila in 1995,” said the Rev. Xavier C. Alpasa, a priest and professor at Ateneo de Manila, a Jesuit university in Manila. “That record will be broken because of the deep spirituality of Filipino Catholics, but also because of Pope Francis himself. People are so enamored by his inclusive statements, his revolutionary ideas, his compassion.”
Photo






Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Wednesday. Later he flew to the Philippines, home to 7 percent of the world’s Catholics.

Credit
            Saurabh Das/Associated Press        


The 1995 visit was the largest papal gathering ever. The authorities were bracing for as many as eight million people to attend a papal Mass in Manila on Sunday.The celebration began as the sun was setting Thursday at Villamor Air Base, where hundreds of screaming admirers awaited the pope’s arrival from Sri Lanka.As he emerged from the plane, a strong tropical breeze sent his zucchetto, or skullcap, flying off his head. A child handed him a bouquet and a line of officials kissed his ring before the papal motorcade departed for a drive through the capital, where tens of thousands crowded the streets for a glimpse.The Philippines is a country where 81 percent of the population identify as Roman Catholic and, as recently as 30 years ago, a potent church was credited with mobilizing crucial support for the overthrow of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.Home to 7 percent of the world’s Catholics, according to the Pew Research Center, the Philippines is also a pillar of the church in Asia. More than half the Catholics in Asia call the Philippines home.While support for the church appears as strong as ever, what that means is shifting.Weekly church attendance among adults has declined from 66 percent in 1991 to 41 percent today, according to a survey conducted Nov. 27 to Dec. 1 by Social Weather Stations, a nonprofit social research organization. This compares with weekly attendance rates of more than 70 percent for Muslims and other Christians in the Philippines.Many Filipinos, while steadfast Catholics, find themselves at odds with their clergy on major social issues and the political role of the church. The Philippines is one of the few countries in the world with no legal divorce, largely because of church opposition. Abortion and same-sex marriage are illegal.President Benigno S. Aquino III has had a contentious relationship with the church, primarily over the passage of the law that would provide free birth control devices to women. After meeting with the pope on Friday, Mr. Aquino said that church leaders had been overly critical of him and silent to the abuses of past political leaders, though he did praise the church leaders who helped in the overthrow of Mr. Marcos, and he called Francis a “unifying and revitalizing voice.”Continue reading the main story
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“There was a true test of faith when many members of the church, once advocates for the poor, the marginalized, and the helpless, suddenly became silent in the face of the previous administration’s abuses, which we are still trying to rectify to this very day,” Mr. Aquino said, as the pope looked on somberly. “In these attempts at correcting the wrongs of the past, one would think that the church would be our natural ally.”
Photo






Crowds gathered in Manila on Thursday to await the arrival of Francis.

Credit
            Lam Yik Fei/Getty Images        


Francis has not changed church doctrine but has come across as more open than his predecessors. His statement in 2013 that the Catholic Church had become too “obsessed” with homosexuality, abortion and contraception was welcomed by many Catholics. He has called for greater acceptance of gay and divorced Catholics by the church.The Filipino church is changing, too.Nancy Felipe, a lecturer at Philippine Women’s University, pointed out that while the church hierarchy vigorously opposed the reproductive health law in Congress, it took a more lenient approach toward the faithful who supported the measure.“There was no sort of discrimination in the church against the women who supported the reproductive health bill,” she said.The church has also become more tolerant of those whose lifestyles conflict with church teachings on social issues.“Gay people and people who are living with a partner outside of marriage worship and serve in our parish,” said Joseph Zaldivar, a seminarian at the Archdiocese of Manila. “They are welcomed.”He said that message had reached parishes around the country.The church here has also been buffeted by multiple corruption scandals in recent years, though it has largely avoided the sex scandals that racked the church in Europe and the United States.In 2011, the church issued a public apology after seven bishops accepted money from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, a government agency that operates gambling franchises opposed by the church, and used the funds to buy luxury vehicles.In early January, Socrates B. Villegas, an archbishop in the northern Philippines, issued a statement reminding priests to dress simply and to avoid the trappings of wealth.“Expensive cars alienate the poor from the church,” he wrote. “We smell differently from the sheep.”


A version of this article appears in print on January 16, 2015, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Filipinos, Their Faith Strong but Shifting, Hail Pope.  Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe









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