A year with Pope Francis
Last Tuesday was the 3rd anniversary of the infamous Japan Tsunami, one of the greatest natural disasters to strike the Japanese islands where hundreds of thousands of people were killed and scores still missing up to today. Japan being a first world nation was badly hit by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake, which resulted in a massive tsunami that rushed between six to ten kilometers inland destroying so many villages in Japan's northeastern seaboard.
This biggest natural disaster caused a near nuclear meltdown in the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor as it was constructed so close to the sea and the tsunami waters destroyed many of its facilities, notably the pumping stations that send cold water into the core of the nuclear reactors. Thus causing nuclear radiation to spread in so many areas near the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Three years later, many of the destroyed villages remain unpopulated, looking more like ghost towns.
Thankfully the earthquake happened early in the morning, hence the world was able to witness and record on video the destruction caused by the earthquake and the greater destruction caused by the tsunami, which is now a historical record. Scientists today are still studying this natural disaster in order to find ways to perhaps prevent if not mitigate the deadly effects of this world famous natural disaster so hopefully we can learn from it.
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Today exactly a year ago, the Papal Conclave that was hastily called last Feb.28, 2013 when Pope Benedict XVI abruptly resigned elected Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, an Argentinian, as the 266th pope and successor to the resigned Pope Benedict XVI. Cardinal Bergoglio chose the name, Pope Francis, the first pope to ever use that name, and he is the first pope to come from Latin America.
I will never forget that exactly a year ago, CNN had a camera focused only on the funnel on top of the Sistine Chapel when suddenly a white sea gull landed on top of this funnel and the bewildered CNN anchorman wondered if the sea gull was just warming up on the stove funnel but also said that the Holy Spirit often appeared as a Dove, although that was not a dove. But then a sea gull looks very similar to a dove, except that it is larger. But for people of faith, many of us believe that the sea gull represented the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Indeed it's already a year since the Holy Spirit gave us Pope Francis and what a year it has been. Things immediately began changing within the Vatican walls when during his first appearance as Pope Francis on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, instead of blessing the hundreds of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis asked them to pray for him. Then he blessed them as Bishop of Rome. That got so many people amazed at the sight of this new Pope Francis.
The next day was a day of more surprises when Pope Francis did not use the papal limousine reserved for the pope and instead took a mini-bus that was bringing back some of the cardinals to their respective hotels. Pope Francis went down to his hotel and checked out of his room and took his bag and paid his hotel bill to the complete surprise of the hotel staff.
Indeed, Pope Francis was a new fresh spirit that has entered the Catholic Church, making the billion strong Catholics proud of being a Catholic. Of course the liberal press was still cautious that this new pope could be their man to change the ways of the Catholic Church and open it up away from its centuries old conservative stand, especially on modern day issues such as same sex marriage, contraception or abortion, and divorce.
The first opening for the liberal press happened right after the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on the pope's return flight to Rome where he surprised the media on board and held an impromptu presscon on the plane. A year later, it is only now that the liberal press realized that Pope Francis is still Catholic and we love his conservative ways. The Catholic Church, like God, is the same, yesterday, today, and will still be the same tomorrow!
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Our heartfelt condolences to the family of Jerry Yntig who passed away last Tuesday afternoon. I have known Jerry since our school days at the University of San Carlos (USC) (although we were not classmates) as he was a member of the USC Diehards. Later, we became close when he joined Globe Telecom and was with the press relations team of Mr. Jones Campos. As I said in my Facebook, JY, as we fondly called him, was the face of Globe Telecom here in Cebu. He is irreplaceable. May we request our pious readers to please pray for the repose of his soul.