Cardinal Rule

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Jaime Cardinal Sin, who died last week at the age of 76 after a long fight with cancer, once wore his power lightly. He had a sly sense of humor—invaluable for a priest named Sin—and some of his sharper critiques of the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos came in the form of jokes and quips. That gentle method of opposition gave way to something bolder on Feb. 22, 1986, when Sin told Manila's residents to go out into the streets to protect military men who had split from Marcos; this turned into the potent force now known as People Power. Following Marcos' ouster, Sin was hailed as a hero—and he enjoyed more power than ever before, inevitably controversial in a country with a 300-year history of Spanish friars who ruled towns and villages. His moral authority prevented Philippine governments from promoting family planning, and as a result, the country's population growth rate is the highest in Asia, particularly among the poor. He helped engineer a second People Power revolt in 2001, which overthrew Joseph Estrada. Many of his obituaries pointed out that for a man of the cloth, Sin had a healthy appetite for affairs of the state. "Sin's spirituality," wrote veteran newspaper publisher Max V. Soliven, "was overshadowed by his propensity to meddle in politics."

Before he died, Sin didn't make any pronouncements on the current political turmoil in Manila, and neither has the powerful Catholic Bishops' Conference. But a few senior clergy have, citing their own demands of conscience. In April three bishops released a letter demanding that the administration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo crack down on corruption and initiate more programs to help the poor. One of the three, Archbishop Oscar Cruz of the Luzon province of Pangasinan, has become a player in the scandals surrounding the President. For four years, Cruz has waged what he calls a "crusade" against an illegal lottery racket known as jueteng, which is commonly played throughout the Philippines. He's trying to expose politicians who rake off the profits, and he recently unearthed three whistle-blowers who claim that Arroyo's husband, son and brother-in-law are involved. The President's aides maintain that the whistle-blowers have been paid to lie, and that Cruz, while an honorable cleric, has been hoodwinked. Cruz defends his actions: "When church people intervene in the so-called political field, it is because even politics is subject to right and wrong, subject to good and evil."

That was Cardinal Sin's philosophy too. Up until the day he died, he was devouring newspapers and demanding thrice-daily reports on the crises hitting Arroyo, according to his brother and his private secretary (though this time Sin had not made his views public). Cardinal Sin's legacy is a church that sees no need to remain in the bully pulpit.