91-year-old Filipino cardinal coming out to fight RH bill

Despite his age, one of the Philippines’ three living cardinals who returned to the country after 25 years in Rome is taking an active stance against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill. Retired Cardinal Jose Sanchez, 91, said he could not sit back while watching Philippine Catholic Church officials fight the passage of the measure. “I’m 91 years old already but I said I want to go home to the Philippines and somehow use my voice in the pastoral life of the church," he said in a statement posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website. The CBCP said Sanchez arrived in Manila last December and is staying with a community of religious sisters in Novaliches, Quezon City. He was last seen in public during a Church-organized prayer rally against the RH bill at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila's Rizal Park last March 25. The Philippine Catholic Church is vocal against the RH bill, which allows artificial contraception. The Church approves only natural family planning. Sanchez said the bill, which requires the government to make a comprehensive range of contraceptives more widely available to the public, is a “destruction of Christian family." He said that if the bill is passed, it will just be the beginning of more “immoral and anti-Christian laws." “I only pray that the Filipinos become more aware of this… We have our tradition and that is protecting our family from the beginning," he said. Sanchez said Christian families — not just in the Philippines but across the world — are faced with serious threats. He said the Church must do something to re-strengthen the faith of Christian believers by intense preaching. “Let’s strengthen the faith among the faithful… Let us preserve faith in the Philippines and let’s protect the Christian family." ‘Private’ efforts vs RH bill Aside from making public statements and holding rallies, the Church’s continuing education against the RH bill would be better if done in private, Sanchez said. “The priests [should] preach the Gospel person to person. This is the best way of communication where he can talk to everybody with heart and conviction. The church needs to preach now more than ever before," he said. 5th of 6 cardinals Sanchez, a native of Pandan in Catanduanes, is the fifth of six Filipino cardinals produced by the country from the time of Pope John XXIII. Aside from Sanchez, the two other living cardinals are Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and retired Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal. The three other Filipino cardinals, now deceased, were Rufino Cardinal Santos (1908-1973), Julio Cardinal Rosales (1906-1983), and Jaime Cardinal Sin (1928-2005). After serving as bishop in several Philippine dioceses for many years, Sanchez was appointed as Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in the Vatican in 1985 by the late Pope John Paul II. He was made a cardinal in 1991, and became Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy a month later. He retired from this position on June 15, 1996. — JE/JV, GMA News