Unfortunately, Pope Francis, a sad simile is poor metaphor

MANILA: Actually, knowing of Pope Francis' 5-day Philippine visit, 15-19 January 2015, had me so inspired many days before, that on Christmas Day 2014 I started writing my book on him; I finished the book on the 15th of January; that is to say, in 21 days, I had written 13 chapters, 11 chapters of which are directly on his words and works – POPE FRANCiS: Champions of Faiths, Champions of Science – 103 pages of 38,000 words, camera-ready; I don't think anybody else can write a good nonfiction book faster than that, whether Roman Catholic or not. No, it's not hagiography; yes, you can write for a free pdf copy (frankahilario@gmail.com). My inspiration continued up to the last sight of his plane leaving Philippine soil aboard Shepherd One of Philippine Airlines, with the President of PAL going along for the ride. Pope Francis, you made my days.

The next day, 20 January, I was a bit shocked when I learned, and checked, that Pope Francis had used a particularly sad simile to describe some presumably bad Catholics, and it has something to do with people and population, family and size. They were on Shepherd One going back to Rome, and he was telling the journalists in the plane about a Filipina he met who had risked her life 7 times for 7 caesarian operations and was pregnant for her 8th child. ANN reports (author not named, 20 January 2015, rt.com):

Francis said that he reprimanded a woman who put her life at risk by becoming pregnant after giving birth to seven children via cesarean section. He said she was "tempting God" and "that was an irresponsibility."

That scolding the Philippine lady deserved, I believe. "Does she want to leave seven orphans?" Pope Francis asked rhetorically (Anna Matranga, 21 January 2015, cbsnews.com). Just because the Roman Catholic Church is against contraception does not mean the Church is against family planning. That's why Pope Francis said, "Some think, excuse me if I use the word, that in order to be good Catholics, we have to be like rabbits. No. No." He said that in those exact words (translated of course); I watched and listened to the video in time.com (TIME Staff, 19 January 2015, time.com).

I couldn't believe it, but he did say those words. This is how Angus MacKinnon reports the incident (22 January 2015, news.yahoo.com):

"She said, 'I trust in God.' But God gave us the means to be responsible," Francis said. "Some think – and excuse the term – that to be good Catholics, they must be like rabbits."

No, Pope Francis was not misquoted in any way.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines puts it this way: "It is responsible parenthood! Not about rabbits!" (cbcpnews.com):

What the Pope DID SAY was that some Catholics mistakenly believe that to be Catholic, we ought to breed like rabbits – and prior to using that simile, he knew that it was harsh and so said "excuse the expression" –but it was apt and it brought home the point. And the point is that the Church has always taught that it is a Catholic obligation to be RESPONSIBLE about parenthood. Births should be planned rationally by both parents who must always remain open to new life, but who must also take into consideration their physical, financial and emotional capacity to raise children. It is not correct for a Catholic to assume the attitude: "Come what may!" This is traditional Church teaching that the Pope was reiterating, and it should be especially relevant to us Filipinos who are grappling with population issues.

Unfortunately, gentlemen, what Pope Francis said is about rabbits. What our President said in his welcome speech was in poor taste; what Pope Francis said about Catholic families growing in number like rabbits was in poor analogy. Did you know that in 7 years, one cat (rabbit) and her offspring have the potential to bear more than 40,000 cats (bio.miami.edu)? Rabbits breed that fast.

So, I'm calling what Pope Francis said on the plane from Manila to Rome Sermon on the Rabbit. That was a quick jump.

This is how the BBC reports it (bbc.com):

Speaking to journalists while heading back to Rome from the Philippines on Monday, Pope Francis was asked what he would say to families who had more children than they could afford because the Church forbids artificial contraception. ¶ He replied with an unexpected turn of phrase: "Some people think that – excuse my expression here – that in order to be good Catholics we have to be like rabbits."

I just googled – "pope francis" breed rabbits – and I got 12.7 million results. There must be at the very least 101 journalists in the world excitedly writing about Pope Francis and his Sermon on the Rabbit. They must have been flabbergasted like me. Could 101 journalists have been wrong?

"Good Catholics don't have to breed like rabbits." They caught the words, but none of the 101 caught the unintended implication of what Pope Francis said: "Some think, excuse me if I use the word, that in order to be good Catholics, we have to be like rabbits. No. No" – considered in the light of the explanation of the CBCP on what Pope Francis really meant, that "the Church has always taught that it is a Catholic obligation to be RESPONSIBLE about parenthood," and that "this is traditional Church teaching that the Pope was reiterating, and it should be especially relevant to us Filipinos who are grappling with population issues."

"Especially relevant to us Filipinos who are grappling with population issues." You will realize what I'm driving at when I tell you that I am a Filipino; I have been married for 48 years; I have a large family, a total of 13 children (12 alive, with 1 death because of "fever of unknown origin" according to the hospital), with only 1 wife (a Filipina), 0 extramarital affairs, 0 adoption, 0 abortion. The Sermon on the Rabbit implies that the Philippines is suffering from over-population, and that is one of the main reasons we have a poverty problem in the country.

Unfortunately, gentlemen, that is the position of those who advocated the passage of the RH bill, which became the RH Law. During the deliberations of the RH Bill, I doggedly blogged against it and I even defended pro-life Senator Tito Sotto against the charge of plagiarism; in the process, I wrote a book that I called The Emperors' New Clothes, dealing with the logical fallacies of those who defended the RH Bill – that it went on to become law does not mean those I argued against were right and I was wrong. Yes, you can ask for a free pdf copy of my book (50,000 words, 211 pages). And no, I'm not anti-Pope Francis; didn't I tell you I wrote the book on him? In fact, I also have a dedicated blog on him: Champion of Faiths (blogspot.com).

I just didn't think the Sermon on the Rabbit was worthy of Pope Francis.

Personally, I do not believe that over-population is THE cause or the MAIN cause of poverty in the Philippines or anywhere else. I rather believe it is the prevailing marketing system that keeps the poor never rising and that keeps the greedy rich ever rising. I qualify – not all rich are greedy; only 50% are.

Is society hopeless against the greedy rich? No. I myself have already a proposed solution, a bottom-up approach, using the concept of inclusive cooperatives – inclusive of the poor, inclusive of the cooperative that is of the people, for the people and by the people. I call the concept the Super Coop; I have been writing about such coops in the last 17 months (for a start, see my essay "Coco Billions. 0 trader & exporter, 100 coops & 1 lesson from Shakespeare," iCRiSAT Watch, blogspot.com). The Super Coops are the merchants for the farmers. In that title of my essay, you might be wondering about my Shakespearian metaphor – it's the moneylender Shylock in Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice. If they are like Shylock, the merchants are the deadlier species, extracting blood from the poor producers who must borrow money to make money.

The Sermon on the Rabbit was a poor choice of words. A father of 13 and like the White Rabbit in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, I find I must say, "Oh dear! Oh dear!" I know nobody's perfect, not even the Pope (when it comes to non-doctrinal matters). It was just that Pope Francis' Sermon on the Rabbit was a poor choice of simile. But I forgive him. Why? Because I want to be happy. Like Dorothy and Scarecrow and Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion in L Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz, we find the lesson at the end of the journey down the Yellow Brick Road. Sitting down at the end of this many-days journey, to make my day, I practice one of Pope Francis' tips for happiness: "Let go of negative things quickly!"