Call me ‘Lolo Kiko’
“Lolo Kiko quieren” They want Lolo Kiko.)
Pope Francis said this after he was asked by a group of Filipino lawyers who recently called on him in the Vatican how he wanted the Filipino faithful to call him when he visits the country in January.
Speaking in Spanish, the Pope with the help of an interpreter bantered with the group who were granted a private audience in October.
In a special report aired yesterday by 9TV, Pope Francis expressed admiration on how Filipinos take care of the elderly.
“The Filipinos love their elders and those who are young. This is what you have, it’s a virtue,” the Holy Father said.
It was while talking about the elderly when one of members of the audience told the pontiff that Filipinos call their elders “lolo” or “lola” which partly confused Francis.
“But why do you have to take care of your elders – lalos (laughter) lolos? You know why? Because they have the memory and the wisdom,” Francis said.
Earlier this month, healing priest Fr. Joey Faller narrated how he caught the attention of the Pope during a general audience at the Vatican in November when he hollered “Lolo Kiko” as the popemobile passed by.
“Noong dumaan siya sa harapan ko, sinigawan ko siya ‘Lolo Kiko…Lolo Kiko’, tumingin siya sa akin (When the Pope passed in front of me, I shouted ‘Lolo Kiko.. Lolo Kiko’ and he looked at me),” he said.
Temptation
During the lawyers’ call, Francis told them to focus on how to give justice for all and to resist the temptation that bedevil the profession.
“To be a lawyer is to live in a position with continuing temptation. Justice is not easy. You have the eyes closed or blindfolded. The devil wants that the cover will fall and the mouth will be closed.
“You have to fight this temptation because I have seen this in my country and in other countries,” the Pope said.
The then future pope, Fr. Jorge Bergoglio, was the superior of the Society of Jesuits in Argentina and later auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires during the so-called “Dirty War” when state security forces cracked down on dissidents, which included priests.
In 2005, Bergoglio was accused by a human rights lawyer of involvement in the kidnapping and torture of two priests in 1976. Bergoglio denied the allegations and the case was eventually dismissed.
Two days after Bergoglio’s election to the papacy, one of the priests, Franz Jalics, issued a statement exonerating their former superior. “It is wrong to assert that our capture took place at the initiative of Father Bergoglio… the fact is, Orlando Yorio and I were not denounced by Father Bergoglio,” he said.
In an Associated Press report, Bergoglio told his biographer, Sergio Rubin, that after the priests’ imprisonment, he worked behind the scenes for their release.
Bergoglio also said in his biography El Jesuita that he had often sheltered people from the dictatorship on church property, and once gave his own identity papers to a man who looked like him, so he could flee Argentina. Alicia Oliveira, a former Argentine judge, has also reported that Bergoglio helped people flee Argentina during the military regime.