Tagle’s ouster as Caritas head

Just recently, Pope Francis dismissed Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle as president of Caritas Internationalis, the Roman Catholic Church's international charity agency based in Rome. Tagle, the highly politicized former Archbishop of Manila now based in the Vatican, was sacked together with top executives of the charity arm.

The news came by way of a Papal decree released by the Vatican press office late last month.

CI is a confederation of 162 Roman Catholic social services and charitable organizations operating in more than 200 countries. Caritas Manila, located in Paco, Manila, is its agency in the Philippines.

Pope Francis appointed a commissioner to take charge of CI. Tagle was instructed to, among others, help the commissioner prepare for the election of new CI officers next year.

According to a separate statement from the Vatican's Development Department which oversees the CI, a review of the CI "workplace environment" done by external management and psychological experts found "malaise and bad management practices" at the CI headquarters.

The statement said that while there is no evidence of financial mismanagement or sexual impropriety, "real deficiencies were noted in management and procedures, seriously prejudicing team spirit and staff morale." It also said management norms and procedures in CI had to be improved.

The ouster of Tagle and the CI executives came in the wake of publicized accusations of bullying and humiliation of CI employees.

An international news report said two CI insiders and a former CI staff member disclosed that the papal decree "was aimed at the management practices by the office of the outgoing secretary general and the board." It was also reported that employees left their jobs at the CI headquarters "because of a climate of bullying, fear, and ritual humiliation."

Current and former staff members of CI said aside from the bullying and humiliation, there were instances of verbal abuse, favoritism, and general manpower mismanagement.

That narrative reminds Filipinos of Padre Damaso.

At any rate, Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, the highly politicized president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, made a clumsy attempt to mitigate the news of Tagle's ouster from CI. David claimed the CBCP already anticipated Tagle's dismissal because the latter had many responsibilities in the Vatican.

While David alleged that "it took time before Pope Francis could find a replacement" for Tagle, David's lame excuse is belied by the observation that if the Pope recently replaced Tagle with a commissioner, the Pope could have appointed a commissioner even much earlier if Tagle was really too busy with his other duties and concerns in the Vatican.

Father Gregory Ramon Gaston, a Filipino rector in the Vatican and Radio Veritas correspondent, also made a clumsy attempt at justifying Tagle's ouster by saying, "CI is a large organization and each social arm of Catholic churches worldwide has its own officials." Gaston's argument is non sequitur.

Instead of offering unfounded excuses and wild speculations about why Tagle got fired by Pope Francis, Filipino friars should just shut up and accept the fact that Tagle's dismissal from CI was triggered by complaints from CI insiders themselves.

Tagle isn't exactly saintly himself. As the Archbishop of Manila, he allowed Manila church officials to pursue the criminal prosecution of Carlos Celdran, the late Intramuros tourist guide who dared to openly criticize the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines. Instead of forgiving Celdran, as Church doctrine preaches, Tagle took the path of vindictiveness.

Filipino Catholic clergy have been spreading the idea that Tagle is bound to be the next Pope. When Pope Francis' health seemed to deteriorate markedly earlier this year, many Padre Damasos started speculating about a Tagle papacy.

Imagine that! Pope Francis is still alive and the Padre Damasos are already looking forward to Tagle's takeover of the Vatican!

Tagle's recent removal as head of CI is a reasonable indication that a Tagle papacy is not on the visible horizon.