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MANILA, Philippines — Every morning, as most chronically online people are wont to do, I doomscroll on Instagram — partly to catch up with friends, family, and current affairs but mostly to delay the inevitable drudgery of another work day.
The morning of May 3, the infinite scrolling led to an image of US President Donald Trump, dressed in papal garb. Days before, Trump had joked about being a good candidate for pope — never mind that he isn’t qualified in the first place.
For better or worse, the May 3 AI-generated image wouldn’t be the first irreverent (downright disrespectful) post that the official White House account has made since Trump took office.
“Not funny, Sir,” Filipino Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David said in 10 different languages in a post on May 3. American Cardinal Joseph Tobin told National Catholic Reporter in a chance interview that the White House’s post was “not worth commenting on.”
Just days prior, Trump, accompanied by wife Melania Trump, a Roman Catholic, attended the funeral of Pope Francis alongside hundreds of world leaders.
But in the long list of actions that Trump has made since taking office, imagining himself as pontiff — even if it was a joke and even if it was an AI-generated shitpost — is far from the most egregious.
His decision to scale back from engagement with the world, by abruptly stopping much-needed aid to countries that need it the most and pulling out from organizations like the World Health Organization, and through a migration policy that prides itself in its cruelty and swiftness (even if it’s swept up those who should not) certainly deserve a top spot.
The Philippines, in part, has been spared from this pulling back — at least when it comes to security and defense, and even in the “reciprocal tariff” that Trump has imposed then postponed. Yet being spared from the worst of Trump’s tendencies doesn’t mean Manila gets to look away.
It’s a post that’s emblematic of the kind of leadership Trump espouses — one that looks inward and pays little concern to who it affects, as long as his base continues to cheer on loudly.
This is the kind of world the successor to Francis will be elected into, as the next spiritual and moral leader to an estimated 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.
Love and kindness that overflows
Among Pope Francis’ last acts — before he spent more than a month in the hospital and before he breathed his last — involved him reaching out to the US and to the Trump administration.
In a letter to the bishops of the United States, Francis wrote about his “disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”
“The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all — as I have affirmed on numerous occasions — welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable,” he wrote, warning that imposing policy that “regulates orderly and legal migration” should not “come about through the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others.”
He warned, “What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.”
Migrants — people of any and all faiths forced to flee because of political crisis, violence, and the climate emergency — were among those whom Francis paid close attention to.
On Easter Sunday, a day before he would pass, Francis met with US Vice President JD Vance, who had justified the Trump administration’s policies by invoking “ordo amoris,” espousing a sort of love that’s limited and apparently of short supply.
A superpower that acts as though kindness towards its neighbor means neglecting itself and who insists on putting America first — even if in putting itself first, it ironically endangers its influence and standing in the world order — is a dangerous thing.
Much has been said about the role Pope Francis and the Vatican’s diplomats played in reopening ties between the US and Cuba back in the aughts. Aides under the Obama administration then recall how the mood shifted in talks, both formal and informal, when there was certainty of the Pope’s involvement and support.
In his final address, Francis “[expressed his] closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel, and to all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people.” “I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation,” he said.
In majority Catholic nations like the Philippines, the power, clout, and impact of Church leaders cannot be minimized.
What Philippine Cardinals Luis Antonio Tagle, Pablo Virgilio David, and Jose Advincula have said — or have not said — in public, at least, about former president Duterte’s bloody drug war, aside from how they’ve responded to allegations of abuse in the Church — is among the issues that some people, including non-Catholics, measure them by.
For when their flock needed guidance and comfort, what did they do?
In a world of uncertainty — conflicts in different parts of the world, polarization online or offline — for better or worse, it’s a centuries-old institution (that itself is not devoid of factionalism, controversy, and injustice) that millions of people, even non-Catholics, look to for guidance.
There’s a palpable sense of joy and jubilation among Filipino Catholics, especially the young, the queer, and the chronically online, as the Catholic Church is set to pick its next leader. There have been threads, and memes, and fancams from the chronically online faithful’s favorite papabile.
Cringe? Sure. I’m sure cardinals Tagle, David, or Advincula would rather these “campaigns” not exist. But cringe is loads better than AI-generated images propagated from an administration’s official account.
Perhaps, aside from being an anchor, a new and renewed generation of Catholics see in the Holy See and the Catholic Church a rare source of hope. – Rappler.com
