When Pope Francis appointed two of his closest allies from the developing world, including Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, as members of the powerful body that acts as the Vatican’s central bank on 22 February 2021, it was a proud moment for the Philippines.
Together with Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, Tagle, who is the former Manila Archbishop from 2011 to 2019, was named to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy.
Touted as potential successors of Francis, their appointments came as the Pope continues to reform the scandal-ridden finances of the Vatican.
However, less than three years after, Pope Francis sacked the entire leadership of the Vatican-based Catholic charity network Caritas Internationalis, which Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle headed since 14 May 2015.
It was undoubtedly a shocking news on 22 November 2022 — a decisive decision made by the first Jesuit pontiff who broke tradition in May 2020 when he raised Tagle to the rank of “cardinal-bishop” which made him the highest-ranking bishop in history.
With the shake-up, the confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social service organizations operating in over 200 countries is entrusted to a temporary custodian after outside experts highlighted management and procedural deficiencies, with Tagle assisting the newly appointed temporary administrator Pier Francesco Pinelli — a former renewable energy executive and Bain consultant trained by the Jesuits.
Amidst varied speculations about a stunning decree that affected more than a million CI staff members and volunteers, throwback news appeared on social media platforms.
It’s a two-year-old news report about former President Rodrigo R. Duterte claiming that Tagle was removed by Pope Francis as Manila Archbishop for allegedly funneling church funds to the opposition.
Tagle joined the Vatican as Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in December 2019.
The misappropriation of funds, Duterte added, was the reason why Pope Francis has not appointed a new Manila Archbishop since Tagle’s departure in February 2021.
“Unbelievably ludicrous”, so says a Manila bishop, or not, the internet never forgets. It definitely makes many wonder what could have prompted the Pope to remove Tagle behind the wheels of Caritas.
Now, here’s another throwback explosion. Tagle was said to have been warned by the military in 2019 about the Caritas funds ending up in the hands of the New People’s Army. Sadly, it fell on deaf ears.
In his engagement with the Caritas Internationale in Rome, Caritas Belgique, then-Lt. General Antonio Parlade said church-based organizations supposedly being exploited by the CPP-NPA are the Vatican-based Caritas Internationale, Caritas Austria, Caritas Belgium, Bread of the World, Diakone Katasthropenhlife, Evangelisher Etwicklungsdient, Caritas Switzerland, Cooperation Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Oxfam UK and Oxfam Ireland.
These international church-based groups, he said, are blinded by where their donations end up, especially during a disaster. Billions of pesos in foreign donations reportedly end up in the hands of communist front organizations in support of the decades-old armed rebellion against the Philippine government.
It is a narrow mind not to look at a subject from different points of view, so says English novelist George Elliot.
“No evidence emerged of financial mismanagement or sexual impropriety, but other important themes and areas for urgent attention emerged from the panel’s work,” said a statement from the Vatican’s development department.
It wouldn’t hurt to include the persistent reports of church-based donations being funneled for false purposes like communist terrorism.
This is “an important theme and area for urgent attention.”
Walk this talk please, Cardinal: “This is a call for walking humbly with God and a process of discernment, confronting our unfreedoms and following the spirit of freedom, (and) at the same time, the walking together of different cultures in their unique expressions of humanity.”