CBCP asks Pinoys: Don't campaign for Tagle as pope

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday asked the public to refrain from campaigning for Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle to become the next pope.

- By EVELYN MACAIRAN

"It's not prudent for the people to publicly push for Cardinal Tagle as the next pope since it may be misconstrued that the conclave can be influenced by outside forces if and when Cardinal Tagle indeed becomes the next pontiff," CBCP Episcopal Commission on Public Affairs executive secretary Fr. Jerome Secillano said over Radio Veritas.

"The independence of the electors should be respected, and the least that we can do is to pray for Cardinal Tagle and the rest of the cardinal-electors," he said.

The 67-year-old Tagle, who is the pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, has been reported as one of the "papabile" or a contender to be the shepherd of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.