Why Pope Francis should fight graft and corruption

One of my closest friends once told me, “An empty stomach knows no God”. He meant to explain to me that the problem with our present Roman Catholic Church was that it had slowly but surely moved away from being a Church that fought for the rights for the poor and powerless of our society. My friend said that how can a poor Filipino believe that there is a God when he continues to see his or her family suffering and dying slowly each day due to hunger. This can be seen in our country wherein many times in the past our Church has been silent on issues concerning graft and corruption in our government which has been one of the major reasons why many of our fellow Filipinos have continued to live in poverty. While we see many of our political leaders driving around in their luxury cars, taking European cruise vacations and changing their signature bags once a week, we continue to see majority of Filipinos who have to live with less than P 100 a day. This is the kind of society that our Church faces in the Philippines, the Asian country which has the most number of Catholics.

Re-awakening Liberation Theology

The newly-elected Pope Francis is a Jesuit and comes from Latin America, the place which brought about the beginnings of Liberation Theology in the 1960s to the 1980s. It was during this period where the Church in Latin America began to take more concrete action against poverty and injustice. This view of theology states that Jesus Christ during his time on this earth, lived with the poor, fought for the poor and marginalized and died as well among the poor and sinners. In light of this, the Church is also called to live out a “preferential option for the poor” which means that although it is called to evangelized every person in our world, there is a call for our Church leaders to develop concrete programs, policies and activities that would uplift the lives of the marginalized sectors of our society. Our Church is challenged to liberate Christians not only spiritually but also liberate or free itself from unjust social structures in our world that have caused great poverty and hardship. I am hopeful that our new Pope will be able to lead our Church back into leading the fight for the rights and welfare of the marginalized in our societies.

Silent on graft and corruption

One such cause of these unjust social structures is the prevalence of graft and corruption in our society especially here in the Philippines and in other third world countries. In an international study, it was said that from 2004-2009, our country lost more than one trillion pesos due to graft and corruption. Sadly, during that time, many of our Church leaders didn’t even make a strong stand against the Arroyo administration that was mired in numerous corruption scandals. More sadly is the fact that some Bishops were even beneficiaries of the Arroyo administration and even defended her and her allies from the criticisms that were thrown at them.

The one trillion pesos could’ve easily been used to provide millions of homes for the poor, college scholarships to financially-disadvantaged students and health insurance for every Filipino. Alas, it went only to the pockets of a few families in our country. This is the reason why our country hasn’t made a dent in its fight against poverty for the past two decades. We have been trapped into a web of graft and corruption that has been propagated by our immoral government officials while many of our Church leaders that should serve as our moral compass have turned a blind eye to this issue.

Jesus Christ, a victim of corruption as well?

Under the new leadership of Pope Francis, our Church should take a more active role in fighting graft and corruption not only in the Philippines but also in many parts of the world. Looking back at the life of Jesus Christ, wasn’t he also a victim of graft and corruption? If one recalls, it was his good friend and apostle Judas Iscariot who betrayed him in exchange for 30 pieces of silver. As we all know, his betrayal led to the arrest of Jesus Christ and his ultimate crucifixion and death on the cross. This is the challenge that Pope Francis faces, a world full of Judases whose main reason for being is to simply accumulate money and power without regard for morality or the common good. I am one of those Catholics who join him in prayer that he will indeed succeed in renewing the vigor of our Church and it will only happen if he can lead the way in giving new life to our fellow Christians who are slowly but surely dying due to the sins of our leaders.    
 
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Harvey S. Keh is Director for Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship at the Ateneo de Manila University-School of Government and is also the Lead Convenor of the Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership. He also taught Theology at the Ateneo de Manila University from 2004-2010.