PH priests remember pope: Holy presence, fearless voice
Fr. Kevin Luther Crisostomo was then 29 and a newly ordained deacon of the Diocese of Parañaque when he got his first special assignment—to serve Pope Francis in his activities during his four-day visit to the Philippines in January 2015.
Remembering how he got that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity made him marvel at how things seemed to have fallen so easily into place, considering his long journey to the priesthood. He would also never forget how it proved to be both an uplifting and humbling experience.
“There was an overwhelming sense of holiness, it’s a holiness that radiates from his person, the kind that you feel when he passed by … You could really feel it when you see him,” Crisostomo, now 41, told the Inquirer in an interview on Tuesday, a day after Francis died on April 21.
Crisostomo had several close encounters with the Holy Father: during the arrival ceremony at Villamor Air Base; when he read the Gospel during an event for families at SM Mall of Asia (MOA) and during Mass at Quirino Grandstand; and during the send-off for the Pontiff again at Villamor.
Disarmed
The SM MOA event must be the closest he got physically to the Pontiff. “I was blessed firsthand. The Pope made the sign of the cross on me. I felt that overwhelming sense of holiness even more, that this is no ordinary person. You could feel the presence of Christ. You could feel the presence of Christ radiating and shining through you.”
“I really had goosebumps all over, but there was also that sense of unworthiness. I asked myself, ‘who am I to meet the Pope face-to-face?’ But at the same time I knew that this is no ordinary person. This is the successor of St. Peter … the leader of the Catholic Church. There was that respect, that love, and I felt disarmed by this person. Simply put, I was able to meet Christ through the Holy Father,” Crisostomo said.
At the welcome rites at Villamor, he recalled, he shouted himself hoarse giving instructions to staff. The next day, tasked to read Scripture at the MOA gathering, he had almost lost his voice.
“So I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to deliver the Gospel. Actually, my voice was already hoarse … But I asked the help of the Holy Spirit.”
Crisostomo also assisted the Pope at the Mass at Quirino Grandstand, the last of his visit, which drew an estimated 6 million people. Again, he felt holiness radiating palpably from Francis.
Simplicity of service
“To receive the sign of the cross from the Pope is a different experience altogether. This is more than just something tangible. I felt a certain spirit or force from that sign of the cross,” he said.
All these happened just a month after Crisostomo was ordained as a deacon.
Thus, he could say in retrospect that “I began my ministry with Pope Francis. So his words, his works were the inspiration behind my priesthood. I always keep in mind and heart that I am blessed to have encountered the Pope at the beginning of my ordained ministry.”
“I have to bring it with me everywhere I go,” said Crisostomo, whose formation as a priest—studying at San Carlos Seminary in Makati City and at San Jose Seminary at the Ateneo de Manila University, then taking a break to teach at Xavier School—took 13 years.
Now the parish priest of San Antonio de Padua Parish Church in Parañaque City, Crisostomo said that as he matured, he realized how easily he could relate to Pope Francis’ teachings and examples, perhaps due to their common background as Jesuits.
Never afraid
“First of all is his example of simplicity and poverty. He shunned the political trappings of being a Pope; he showed us the simplicity of service. From the vehicle he rode, to the place where he stayed, the Casa Santa Marta,” he said, referring to the Vatican City guest house.
For another Catholic priest, Fr. Robert Reyes, Pope Francis’ passing “is a big loss to the Catholic Church and the world because he was a pope who was not afraid to confront issues.”
“When he talked, he minced no words. He did not edit himself. But he was also not impudent. His use of language was very delicate, very sensitive. Yet he was not afraid to ruffle feathers.”
‘Trying to see face of God’
“Whether he was talking about a serious issue, a serious situation like the war in Ukraine, in Afghanistan, or refugees anywhere in the world, the people and the Pope became one as he created this solidarity that is lacking in this world,” said Reyes, also known as the “running priest” and an activist himself.
“Hindi siya takot (he was not afraid); it started with his being a chemist,” Reyes said. “I noticed from the time he became pope until he died that his contact with the people was very real. Like a chemist, how the chemicals affect whatever they are mixed with, he also looked at reality the same way.”
The 2015 papal visit saw “the biggest crowd ever that came to Luneta,” Reyes added. “Why? I think even people who have not yet met him, they were able to see eye-to-eye and face-to-face with him. This is a pope who tried to connect with us.”
At the Pope’s Mass in Tacloban, Leyte, a city still reeling from Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) that struck in 2013, “The rain did not prevent people from coming and did not prevent the Pope from taking the risk to come even as there was still a storm brewing that day.”
“During the Mass, it was a sea of yellow, yellow raincoats; you could sense the energy, the synergy that this Pope seemed to create. And it was most human, much more than human.”
“If you were there out of faith, not only out of curiosity, but out of belief, you were trying not to see a superstar, a rockstar. Perhaps you were trying to see the face of God. And that was what I felt. God was there and the Pope was his instrument for making it happen. All throughout his life, Pope Francis was like that.”
