http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/877/422/118/?z00m=22554333&redirectID=1581609555 In preparation for Pope Francis' visit to Manila, the Filipino police arrested hundreds of homeless children to "stop gangs of beggars targeting the Pope." Most of these children have never committed a single crime - being born on the streets does not make them criminals! This would be terrible under any circumstances, but it is especially tragic and ironic now. Pope Francis has been very kind to the homeless, even visiting them in the middle of the night dressed as a regular priest. If he knew what happened in preparation for his visit to Manila, surely he would denounce the practice and call on the Filipino government to reform its treatment of the poor! Sign the petition today: Ask Pope Francis to speak out on behalf of the jailed Filipinio homeless children! According to Time Magazine, the Filipino government routinely rounds up homeless children, and there was an uptick in arrests for the Pope's visit. "Children are summarily kept for anything up to three months without charge, with little ones sharing cells with young adults. Many fall prey to serious sexual and physical abuse: Kids just eight-years-old are often tormented into performing sex acts." SCMP Magazine calls this "a blatant violation of the country’s child-protection laws." It is an even bigger violation of the children's human rights. Pope Francis can pressure the Filipino and Manila governments about this crime - let's get 50,000 100,000 signatures alerting him to this atrocity so he can take action! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/877/422/118/?z00m=22554333&redirectID=1581609555
I drew this Forum's attention to this story which was published by the Daily Mail under the topic The Pope Is Coming: Lock-up The Kids. This story did not go down well with the either authorities or with the Catholic Bishops and Cardinals in Manila. In reply #16, Fred posted the Department of Social Welfare and Development's Secretary, Dinky Soliman's reaction to the Daily Mail investigation. In a TV interview for ABS-CBN News, Cardinal Tagle, Manila's archbishop and the Pope's host, defended the police action and stated that the children were being well-cared for. The Mail's story was largely predicated on an interview with Father Shay Cullen who it transpires, is not the "whiter than driven snow" campaigning cleric he'd have us believe. It seems that he, in common with many of his calling, has one or two skeletons hidden away in his cupboard of a sexual nature and, without drawing attention to these, Soliman "advised" the media to discount Cullen's and the Daily Mail's claims. I suggest that the DSWD - along with the Police and Government - deliberately sought to cover-up an action which shows them all in a very bad light and it's almost certainly the case that the CBCP (Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines) were supportive of the action, to a lesser or greater extent, and they may even have suggested it. This petition, well-intentioned though it is, is going to have absolutely no effect, least of all on how the homeless and vulnerable members of society are treated in this country. If this petition is sent to Rome, minions there will wish to investigate the veracity of the claims before passing it to the Pope's secretary's third assistant secretary and will do so by contacting senior clergy in Manila. They, the CBCP, are not about to incriminate themselves by admitting that such action was taken and that they, the clergy, did nothing about it. The senior clergy are among the richer members of society, all drive (or are driven in) top of the range 4x4s and live a very comfortable lifestyle: they are not going to jeopardise any of that for the sake of a few street kids. The petition will fail at that point and the Pope will probably be completely unaware of its existence. Aside from that, the Philippine Establishment takes grave exception to being given advice on how to run their country or any criticisms of the country or its peoples by foreigners.
I disagree, it does have a big influence. If His Holiness was to visit a major UK city, I would hope that drunkards, druggies, unemployable layabouts, prostitutes, and sellers of the big issue are not allowed to pester him. Having been hit on the back of the head by a shoe thrown by a Manila street kid I have little sympathy for them.
So one incident and tar them all with the same brush, not very forthcoming on the empathy front today are you?
I always work on the basis that you're as good as the family you are born into, a lot of cards are dealt to you at birth. Having said that, an old maths teacher of mine always used to say "you know when you're doing wrong regardless of your background", some truth in that statement too.
Think they are more worried about bullets than a flip flop. You appear to have little compassion for street kids though.
Quite true. The linked article is a "Cute Puppy" article, totally ignoring the reality of the situation. Why petition the Pope? He acts as a guiding light for humanity, not somebody who should be callously accused of lacking compassion in such circumstances.
The wide spread poverty of the Philippines (and other majority catholic countries that where forced into Catholicism) needs to be addressed and with it the plight of the street kids. As the Philippines is largely catholic and they (the church) frown upon contraception which obviously results in over population I'd say that the pope (as head honcho) is largely responsible as a "guiding light" to take responsibility for his churches views and actions and do something about this growing situation that effectively keeps people at or below the poverty line for no really reason apart from the church doesn't like jonnies so it can keep its numbers up against other religions. Having taken the seminar before getting married in Olongapo where they wheeled out various couples who stood and told young adults that they will go to hell unless they produce at least 5 kids and then proceed to show a very graphic, very out of date video of an abortion to scare the ****e out of them it no wonder that huge amounts of the population end up on the streets or can't afford to actually look after the family the church tells them to have. And do they get help? Rarely. The church / pope need to step up and take responsibility, encourage birth control and educate young adults about family planning. The world has an ever growing population that it struggles to sustain. As for guiding light, the revelations coming out of the catholic church in recent times is shocking. We are only seeing a small fraction of what they have got up to from child abuse to god knows what. The church needs massive reform to bring it up to date with the modern world, so guiding light? No
Yes, you state the real problem in your first sentence "The wide spread poverty of the Philippines". The wide difference between those who have, and those who don't. <--- Surely that is a problem that needs to be addressed directly rather than posting a "cute puppy" picture of kids behind bars, and signing an online petition to the pope, all makes a good story but will the ruling elite in the Philippines take any real notice?
As mentioned before at the very least it draws attention to the story. Agreed, there is a a massive gulf between classes in the Philippines similar to a lot of countries, Brazil instantly springs to mind. Where the few have the most and hold on to it, reported to be something like 2% of the population hold 95% of the wealth. We all know corruption is rife and frankly I don't think that will ever change. Power corrupts, even more so in poor, over populated countries where the effects are felt even more strongly. But the Catholic church has its part to play in this. Look at the churches in towns and villages and the houses of priests. Often the most grand building for miles outside of businesses. The church is up there with the "haves" and does little to help the "have nots". They are no better than governments or those in power and in fact worse for instilling a false hope and out dated way of living while preying on those less fortunate.
