MANILA, Oct. 31, 2014 – Of the so many issues discussed during the recent Extraordinary Synod on the Family in Rome, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle said he believes poverty is the top concern the Philippines needs to address.
Speaking to church, national and foreign newsmen for nearly two hours, Tagle said the Church in the Philippines sees how the prevailing economic crisis, particularly the lack of jobs, affects the family.
“Poverty impacts on the family,” he said.
Tagle added there were Synod participants who said “because of life’s hardships, there are youth who don’t want to get married jobless because they won’t have enough for their needs.”
The 57-year old cardinal said after two weeks of listening to the exchanges at the Synod, he would personally choose poverty as the top issue affecting Philippine society “in a very dramatic way.”
“When there is poverty, employment, food, shelter and education are all affected,” he explained. He added it should not be the Church’s concern alone but that of all sectors, especially the government and the private sector.
The Extraordinary Synod on the Family began last Oct. 5 and closed last Sunday, Oct. 19, in time for the beatification of Pope Paul VI, author of the 1968 Papal Encyclical Humanae Vitae. (Melo Acuña)