Filtered by: Topstories
News

'Trust God, avoid false power,’ Vatican official urges Filipino faithful


'Trust God, avoid false power,’ Vatican official urges Filipino faithful

A Vatican official called on Filipinos to trust only God and avoid seeking false power, as the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) concludes its 129th plenary assembly.

Archbishop Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, Secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, said true sin is seeking power from the wrong sources.

“The sin is not to seek power, but rather to seek it where it is not, to ask for it from one who does not have it, to hope to obtain it from one who is, in reality, powerless,” Pagazzi said in his homily Sunday.

“If it is not God, it is only an idol — something that has eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear,” he added.

Pagazzi also said every sin is a form of distrust in God’s ability to protect and provide.

“The devil does not want us to live at the height of our power as children of the All-Powerful,” he said. “He wants to extinguish our courage, silence the great energy, the great power of hope.”

The faithful were also urged to embrace the Jubilee Year, safeguard joy, and be pillars of hope.

“Let us seek to safeguard joy in our thoughts and affections. Let us seek not to open the doors to sadness because it weakens that power which Christ never ceases to give to us and to restore to us,” Pagazzi said.

The Archdiocese of Lipa hosted the 129th plenary assembly in Santa Rosa, Laguna last Jan. 25 to 27.

During the assembly, the clergy pray and discuss timely key issues surrounding the Church. — Mariel Celine Serquiña/BAP, GMA Integrated News