61. Political backlash against the Church: Nicaragua
The Nicaraguan government intensified its crackdown on the Catholic Church only when it had expelled the Nuncio from the country and effectively severed diplomatic ties with the Holy See.
60. The Philippine presidential elections: the aftermath
The Church’s official neutrality is a Christological strategy that ensures that the pastor always reaches all people. It limits the high political risk of defeat and political backlash. It gives the Church a soft landing in case of defeat.
59: The Philippine election: Why the Church lost
A big majority of Filipinos, most of whom are Catholic, voted for Bongbong. All the pontification fell on deaf ears
58. The 2022 Philippine presidential election: The Catholic Church lost
Goodness without truth is pretense. Service without truth is manipulation.
57. Politics and the Eucharist – The United States
The extent to which the Church can go in the US is not applicable in Nigeria because the socio-cultural context of each country differs
56. Safeguarding our authority – avoid political backlash
Expecting our bishops to call out politicians publicly as Pentecostal pastors do is an uneven comparison and unfair to our bishops
55. Why we need to safeguard our authority—political
If, while exercising his priestly ministry, a priest publicly supports a political party, he alienates himself from his parishioners who are in the opposition.
54. Why we need to safeguard our authority – sociological
It is easier to restore an authority based on coercion than moral authority. In other words, once moral authority is lost, it may never be restored.
53. Why we need to safeguard our authority—ecclesiological
Be shepherds with ‘the smell of the sheep’…people capable of living, of laughing and crying with your people, in a word, of communicating with them – Pope Francis
52. Safeguarding our authority: Doctor of the soul
As priests and religious, we are trained to be adaptive whilst keeping to Church’s law and fundamental teachings. As we exercise our authority, let us always remember that no two places and people are the same.