WE watched Manny Pacquiao?s bout with American Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas, Nevada on pay-per-view last Sunday in the comfort of our home. One thing good with PPV is that the coverage of the event is continuous. That gave me and my wife Edizza a chance to observe without distraction Pacman?s demeanor when he entered the ring. Of particular interest to us was finding out whether the Pambansang Kamao is still Catholic.
Bong O. Wenceslao
Candid Thoughts
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I missed the TV report about Pacquiao and his family attending a mass at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas before his world title fight with Bradley. An abs-cbnnews.com report stated that it was officiated by a Rev. Marlon Beof. Later, there were stories that that Pacquiao no longer made the sign of the cross during the mass.
So when Pacquiao finally knelt in his corner inside the ring for his usual pre-fight prayer, our question was, will he or won?t he? ?Nanguros man,? my wife told me when Manny started getting up. ?Aw, Katoliko pa,? I muttered. But one other thing I noticed was that he was no longer carrying a rosary. He used to wear a rosary like it was a necklace in previous fights. That meant our curiosity was not satisfied.
Is the Pacman at the crossroads of his religious belief? I checked further and sought the connections. One name cropped up in the discussion of Pacquiao?s renewed faith: Jeric Soriano. Reports say he joined the Filipino boxer?s entourage that left for the United States after the first part of his training in Baguio City wound up. He supposedly leads in the Bible sharing sessions that Pacquiao holds regularly.
Soriano is a son of the late actor Nestor de Villa, who is best known for his onscreen team-up with the late actress Nida Blanca. Okay, if youngsters could not relate with that, here?s another link. Jeric Soriano is the father of director Paul Soriano, who is best known as the boyfriend of actress-host Toni Gonzaga of ABS-CBN. Jeric is a pastor of New Life Christian Center or New Life.
New Life, according to enotes.com, was founded in 1991 by missionaries Paul Chase and his wife Shoddy and is mainly based in Alabang, Muntinlupa City. It has since set up branches in other parts of the country including Cebu. It is obviously not a Catholic group. Rather it is Protestant and evangelical. Evangelicals, according to Oxford?s Concise Dictionary of World Religions, are known for insisting on ?rigorous standards of personal conduct, frequent examination of conscience, the infallibility of the Bible, detailed Bible study and lay activity.?
Soriano, as Pacquiao?s ?spiritual advisor? has therefore a different set of religious views from Catholics. But those views are still Christian, of course. Still, some of Protestantism?s teachings conflict with those of Catholics and could spark a tug-of-war within the Filipino boxer as far as religious association is concerned. Indeed, some Filipino Catholics are asking Pacquiao to have his Bible studies conducted by Catholic priests instead.
This belief tug-of-war must have been the reason why earlier calls by some Catholic Church leaders for Manny to become their ?Bible ambassador? didn?t fly. Incidentally, Manny and his family are set to travel to Jerusalem to further deepen their faith in God. Will he end up making a life-changing decision re: religion when he goes back to the country next month?
