PRIESTS should not turn into politicians.

This is the view of Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, a former president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, when asked to comment on the election of Fr. Ed Panlilio as governor of Pampanga.

Panlilio, running as an independent bet, trounced veteran politicians Lilia Pineda of Kabalikat ng Mamamayang Pilipino and incumbent Governor Mark Lapid of Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats.

In his blog last Wednesday, Archbishop Cruz said the election of Fr. Panlilio as governor of   Pampanga brought to the fore once more the ticklish question about separation of the Church and State in the country.

But he pointed out that the conflict today stems from the Catholic Church’s doctrines rather than the country’s law.

Under the Philippine Constitution, the separation of church and state refers more to the prohibition of the adoption of an official religion for the Republic.

On the other hand, the Catholic’s Universal Canon Law prohibits any cleric — deacon, priest and bishop — from assuming any public office that partakes of the exercise of police power, said Cruz, an authority on Canon Law.

“In the case of a priest taking over the exercise of the gubernatorial office or a province, or any higher or lower public office for that matter, there is evidently no violation of the pertinent constitutional provision. (But) there is clearly an infraction of the Universal Church Law,” he said.

A priest who has committed an infraction is sanctioned with the penalty of suspension, which means he is divested of his entire priestly ministry.

Cruz, however, added that despite the suspension, a priest is required to maintain all major priestly commitments to continence, praying the breviary several times a day, and keeping his oath of obedience to his bishop, who does not in any way serves as a political superior.

“The big query is, if the readmission of former priest-politician is acceptable to the bishop concerned, such that a priest may just leave the priestly ministry at will and at will also be simply admitted once more to the full exercise of his priesthood,” Cruz said.–LM

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