The Political and Economic Vision of Pope Francis: Implications for Philippine Church Mission

The Philippine socioeconomic and political situation

John Ishiyama points out that “economic development has a direct effect on political development” and that “political development results from the social transformations that emerge from economic development.” ⁴ Moreover, Michael Kesselman argues that the success of states in maintaining sovereign authority and control over their people “is greatly affected by their ability to ensure that enough goods are produced and services delivered to satisfy the needs and demands of their populations.” Hence, “effective economic performance is near the top of every state’s political agenda, and ‘governing the economy’—how a state organizes production and the extent and nature of its intervention in the economy—is a key element in its overall pattern of governance. The core of governing the economy involves the strategies that states choose in an attempt to improve economic performance, deal with economic crises, and compete in international markets.” ⁵

The pope’s close encounter with the poor, the oppressed, and the exploited members of society not only has enabled him to see their concrete situation but has allowed him to see reality from the perspective of the poor. He has thus made it clear that the poor are victims of socioeconomic and political structures that not only victimize them but also exclude them. The pope, witnessing how the state abandoned and neglected the victims of Typhoon Yolanda in the province of Leyte, lamented, “How difficult it is for our democracies today to ensure social justice, preserve and defend such basic human values as respect for the inviolable dignity of each human person and respect for the inalienable right to life!” In a speech before visiting the devastation of Typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban City, the pope declared:

Today, from this place which has known such profound suffering and human need, I ask that even more be done for the poor. Above all, I ask that the poor throughout this country be treated fairly—that their dignity be respected, that political and economic policies be just and inclusive, that opportunities for employment and education be developed, and that obstacles to the delivery of social services be removed. Our treatment of the poor is the criterion on which each of us will be judged (cf. Mt 25:40, 45). I ask all of you, and all responsible for the good of society, to renew your commitment to social justice and the betterment of the poor, both here and in the Philippines as a whole. ⁶

Sensing systemic and institutionalized corruption in the bureaucracy, the pope challenged politicians in a speech at Malacañang Palace to “reject every form of corruption which diverts resources from the poor, and to make concerted efforts to ensure the inclusion of every man and woman and child in the life of the community.” ⁷ The pope reminded politicians in Malacañang that only truth, accountability, and transparency can break the chains of injustice and corruption.

The pope is very much aware of the unjust economic and political structures in the Philippines. Unemployment is at a record-high level, and the income of the working people is steadily declining. The price of basic goods and services continues to rise, even while social services are deteriorating. Demolition of squatters’ homes is prevalent, and peasants and indigenous peoples are being displaced from their lands. The pope, witnessing the worsening poverty, hunger, and misery of the Filipino people, admonished political leaders to be more sensitive to the cries of the poor.

The church in the Philippines must serve as a model in the quest for justice and peace. Hence, the challenge of the local church in all its missionary endeavors is “to acknowledge and combat the causes of the deeply rooted inequality and injustice which mar the face of Filipino society, plainly contradicting the teaching of Christ.” ⁸ The gospel calls Christian communities to create “circles of integrity” and networks of solidarity, which can expand to embrace and transform society by their prophetic witness.

Pope Francis’s critique of neoliberal economics

It was the poor that reshaped Pope Francis’s views on politics. Even before he became pope, he immersed himself in the harsh realities of the slum areas in his diocese in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He vehemently condemned political and economic systems that were oppressing and exploiting the poor and depriving workers of living wages. These sins, he said, “cry out to God for vengeance.” Extreme poverty and unjust economic structures were “violations of human rights” that called for solutions for justice. ⁹ In other words, what the poor needed was not charity but justice. ¹⁰ On May 27, 2019, the pope reminded finance ministers from various nations that we are now living at a time “when profits and losses seem to be more highly valued than lives and deaths, and when a company’s net worth is given precedence over the infinite worth of our human family.” He appealed to the ministers to “act prudently and responsibly” and to promote human dignity by freeing themselves from “the idolatry of money that creates so much suffering.” ¹¹ On December 10, 2018, the seventieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, he pointed out “numerous forms of injustice” that continue to trample on the political, economic, and civil rights of the poor. These “grave injustices” are often “fueled by . . . an economic model founded on profit, which doesn’t hesitate to exploit, to reject and even to kill man.” ¹² He added that a “reductive vision of the human person,” brought about by “modern forms of ideological colonization by the stronger and wealthier,” is detrimental to the poorer and most vulnerable members of society. ¹³

Pope Francis’s encyclical and earlier apostolic exhortation, as well as his recent interviews and pronouncements, identify three key problems in today’s economic paradigm. First, Francis believes that the existing neoliberal economic agenda promotes “an economy of exclusion” (EG §53), where “the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, [as is] the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few” (§56). He added that unfettered markets have only galvanized growing economic inequality worldwide. ¹⁴ Attacking what he views as the excesses of capitalism, he denounced the trickle-down economic paradigm as a conservative economic model that allows the wealthy to run their businesses unhampered by the regulation of the state. This situation inevitably results in massive poverty and polarization in society (see EG §54).

Second, Francis severely criticized what he calls an economy that does not guarantee total human development. Lamenting the fact that the elite control and dominate our political and economic life, he pointed out that “finance overwhelms the real economy. . . . By itself the market cannot guarantee integral human development and social inclusion” (LS §109). “Those really free are the minority who wield economic and financial power” (§203). Not only is the profit motive detrimental to the welfare of human persons, it also brings unparalleled catastrophe and damage to the environment.

Third, the pope lambasted an economic model that turns everything into a commodity. Such an economic order views “other living beings as mere objects subjected to arbitrary human domination. When nature is viewed solely as a source of profit and gain, this has serious consequences for society” (LS §82). Water, which in 2010 was declared by the UN General Assembly as a basic human right, is now a private property of big corporations. ¹⁵ The rich land and natural resources of developing countries are being plundered by rich countries, brought about by “a system of commercial relations and ownership which is structurally perverse” (LS §52), where “land is concentrated in the hands of a few owners” (§134). The commodification of land is concretely experienced by the indigenous peoples in the Philippines, who are constantly displaced and dispossessed by big foreign mining corporations.

The political and economic vision of Pope Francis

The prevailing economic and development policies in the Philippines are based on a neoliberal economic framework that emphasizes the importance of reducing the role of the state, liberalizing trade and open markets, and promoting the role of the private sector, especially through foreign direct investment. Michel Beaudin discusses the grave effects of neoliberalism on the people, especially the poor: “Neo-liberalism has exacerbated inequality, spread precarity, and sown despair. . . It has issued a multi-faceted, radical, insidious and intoxicating threat which conceals its true nature as it advances, and could result in destruction beyond repair.” ¹⁶

In order to make the existing economic order more inclusive, Pope Francis is convinced that there is a need to restructure economic policies that will emphasize the common good. He proposed some recommendations that seek to address the prevailing injustice and inequality. He called on global institutions to respect the dignity of the human person, help the poor, and promote the common good. Citing the principle of subsidiarity, the pope asserted that people in communities have a right to be actively involved in any policies or development programs that have an effect on their lives. He emphasized a kind of development that respects the dignity of all people, especially the poorest of the poor. In his first apostolic exhortation as pope, Francis clearly laid down his economic program. In this document he pointed out the urgency of resolving “the structural causes of poverty . . . for the good order of society.” He warned that “as long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems” (EG §202). Furthermore, he made it clear that “the dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns which ought to shape all economic policies” (EG §203). He urged policymakers to change “models of global development,” which would entail a responsible reflection on “the meaning of the economy and its goals with an eye to correcting its malfunctions and misapplications” (LS §194). Every effort to protect and improve our world entails profound “changes in lifestyles, models of production and consumption, and the established structures of power which today govern societies.”

Implications for mission

Pope Francis’s political and economic vision highlights five points that must be considered in order to achieve integral human development. These five points are also crucial for how the Philippine church can be able to effectively implement its missionary program of “new evangelization.” In the realm of politics, Pope Francis reminds policy makers that “the dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns which must shape all economic policies.”

First, he emphasized that human rights must be protected, promoted, and realized, which includes the full range of civil, political, social, cultural, and economic rights of people. Recent estimation by human rights groups put the total number of people killed ever since Philippine president Duterte implemented the “war on drugs” to almost 30,000, most of these coming from poor communities. ¹⁷ Aside from the systematic killings brought about by the war on drugs, political killings are also widespread in the country. In the island of Negros alone, eighty-three extrajudicial killings have occurred since 2017. In one four-day period, thirteen civilians were killed, and on July 25, 2019, seven persons were killed. ¹⁸ A human rights group noted that most of the victims were members of peasant groups, labor leaders, lawyers, and human rights activists critical of the Duterte government. In order for the church to become more relevant, it must openly oppose and denounce all forms of human rights violations in the country. In a country where political repression and systematic killings happen on a daily basis, the church must stand with the victims in their quest for justice.

Second, the pope urged national leaders to address deep-seated economic and social inequalities through an equitable redistribution of resources, power, and opportunities. Hence, part of the mission of the church is to participate in concrete actions and programs that will alleviate the subhuman conditions that the poor often face. Announcing the good news of liberation entails denouncing the structural causes of poverty and injustice.

Third, people must defend their right to have access to land and other natural resources. People in the church should continue to actively defend peasants and indigenous peoples who are dispossessed and displaced from their lands. Various church-based organizations work hand in hand with NGOs and people’s organizations in calling for a program of genuine agrarian reform. ¹⁹ It must be noted that missionaries (including foreign missionaries such as Fr. Fausto Tentorio) who fought alongside peasants and indigenous peoples (the Lumad in Mindanao) for rural development were martyred by elements of the state, mostly military and paramilitary troops. ²⁰

Fourth, the church (clergy, religious, laypeople) must join the ranks of the workers in their struggle for dignified labor by exerting more pressure on the state to ensure full employment and decent work. Expounding on the theme of the dignity of work, Francis said: “Power, money, culture do not give us dignity. Work, honest work, gives us dignity.” ²¹ The use of contractual labor (i.e., contractualization) is rampant in the Philippines. This practice violates workers’ right to security of tenure and prevents them from forming unions and workers’ associations.

Fifth is the importance of serving the poor. Pope Francis pointed out the implication of mission in today’s world: “Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society. This demands that we be docile and attentive to the cry of the poor and to come to their aid” (EG §187). In a country marred by chronic poverty and widespread inequality and injustice, the church in the Philippines must become a living embodiment of “a church that is poor and for the poor.” This goal involves a radical change of lifestyle (to a life of simplicity and evangelical poverty) and a change of worldview, especially among its clergy. To become a church of the poor entails seeing reality from the perspective of the poor and involves transforming society according to the vision of the poor.

Pope Francis pointed out the root cause of the sociopolitical and economic problems in Philippine society: the continued control and domination of the few elite members of our society in the political and economic spheres. For this reason, “governments are no longer able effectively to represent people’s interest and to work for the majority. They tend to be influenced by small groups of people with special interests who have money to make larger political donations and mobilize lobbyists.” ²² In Laudato si’ he wrote, “Today, it is the case that some economic sectors exercise more power than states themselves” (§196). And when the business sector controls our political system, the inevitable consequence is a “weakening of the power of nation states” because “the economic and financial sectors, being transnational, [tend] to prevail over the political” (§175).

In order to be effective in its mission, the church in the Philippines must exert significant influence in the public sphere. All church organizations need to give greater stress on involving the people to exert pressure on the system of governance and to have a clear impact on governance issues. ²³ The church must therefore exhort government leaders to formulate economic programs that will provide concrete steps and immediate measures to preserve and improve the natural environment and put an end as quickly as possible to the phenomenon of social and economic exclusion. Political power must be shared, that is, it should provide a voice to the marginalized (the voiceless) in society. Moreover, power should be inclusive, that is, the decision-making processes should include the poor, especially programs that directly affect their life.

Finally, power comes with accountability of those to whom it is entrusted. Pope Francis’s speech in Malacañang Palace during his visit in the Philippines sums up his political vision: “Essential to the attainment of these national goals is the moral imperative of ensuring social justice and respect for human dignity. The great biblical tradition enjoins on all peoples the duty to hear the voice of the poor. It bids us break the bonds of injustice and oppression, which give rise to glaring, and indeed scandalous, social inequalities. Reforming the social structures, which perpetuate poverty and the exclusion of the poor, first requires a conversion of mind and heart.” ²⁴

What is needed, therefore, is a politics of change that champions true service for and accountability to the people. This approach is in contrast to personality-based politics tainted with corruption, patronage, the distribution of special favors, and political dynasties. ²⁵ Politics of change responds to the issues of the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed. Such political action is opposed to empty promises, deception, and self-serving politics. The church acknowledges the important role of politics in society. Part of the missionary task of the church is to evangelize Philippine politics, which can be used as a tool for the dissemination and updating of the church’s understanding and fulfillment of its mission, which embraces all of human reality. In the words of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith: “To evangelize does not mean simply to teach a doctrine, but to proclaim Jesus Christ by one’s words and actions, that is, to make oneself an instrument of his presence and action in the world.” ²⁶