Filtered By: Topstories
News

Bishop denies Vatican pressure to reject Arroyo ouster in 2005


A senior Catholic bishop on Monday disputed a US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks suggesting the Vatican pressured Philippine Catholic bishops not to support calls for the ouster of then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2005 amid the “Hello, Garci" controversy. Retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said it is not the Vatican’s policy to intervene in local socio-political issues. “WikiLeaks has a lot of wonderful things but you don’t take it as hook, line and sinker ... One should also be perceptive [in] reading it… most of them are perceptions. There’s no documentation," Cruz said in an article posted Monday night on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news site. He referred to reports that a US Embassy cable released by WikiLeaks showed the Vatican urged the CBCP to “remain neutral in the controversy surrounding Arroyo." The supposed cable on July 15, 2005 stated that the pressure was made trough then papal nuncio Archbishop Antonio Franco. "The Holy See is hesitant to get out in front of its bishops in opposing local political leaders ... but the Vatican is also loath to see clergy take active political roles. In fact, the principle of avoiding direct political involvement is enshrined in canon law, even if not always followed," it said. On July 12, 2005, another confidential cable claimed Joseph Mussomeli, deputy chief of mission and charge d'affaires at the US Embassy in Manila, had inquired into reports that Franco “scolded" the bishops during their plenary assembly. This had supposedly resulted in a Pastoral Statement dated July 9 that did not call for Arroyo's resignation. In the July 2005 CBCP statement, the bishops did not demand Arroyo’s resignation but said they also do not “encourage her simply to dismiss such a call from others." Arroyo, then, was being accused of rigging the 2004 elections to favor her and her allies. Cruz said this was the first time he has heard of such incident and urged the faithful not to view it as being “Gospel truth." “The Vatican has global concerns and I don’t think that it will involve itself in such a ‘small thing’ as Garci tapes," he said. “I can say for certainty because I was there all along… Vatican was not even mentioned. This is the first time I heard about that," he added. — KBK, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT