Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle‘s messages for Lenten Season about believing in falsehoods earned buzz on social media on Tuesday, April 12.
These messages were part of a special virtual event titled “The Word Exposed 2022: Lenten Online Recollection” that was live-streamed on a YouTube channel called JesComTV on the same day.
Tagle posted snippets of his message on his social media accounts.
The parts that gained traction the most were his remarks on weariness or tiredness.
In one post, Tagle encouraged the Catholic faithful to not get weary of “doing good” to others despite getting tired with other activities.
“Do not grow weary of doing good. Do not grow tired of doing good. And if there is an opportunity to do good, grab it. Do not lose that chance to do good,” he said.
As of writing, this post received 8,800 reactions, 322 comments and 1,300 shares on Facebook.
In another post, Tagle asked the viewers if they are tired of the “falsehoods and lies” rampant in society today.
“Don’t you get tired of all the lies, the fake news, and the bashing that happens? If we are energized by that, I think we need to pause and examine ourselves: ‘How come I am energized by all of this falsehood and lies? And when it comes to truth, I don’t have energy or interest?’” he said.
So far, this post gathered 8,400 reactions, 200 comments, and 2,000 shares on the platform.
It also circulated on Twitter. Tagle’s tweet garnered more than 7,300 likes, over 1,900 retweets and 68 quote-retweets so far.
In the video, the cardinal expressed hope that people may soon get tired of falsehoods.
“If we ever get tired, I hope we would get tired of all the falsehoods that spread around. Kung mapapagod din lang naman tayo, wag tayong mapagod sa mabuti. Mapagod tayo dun sa hindi mabuti,” Tagle said.
He also lamented the increasing discrimination and prejudice against one another. This part of his message was also posted on his social media accounts.
“Sana…I hope we get tired of all the discrimination, the prejudice, that does not seem to stop and sadly seems to increase. Are you not tired of that? If we are energized by backbiting, if we are energized with destroying somebody else, there must be something wrong,” Tagle said.
How social media reacted
Most users were thankful for Tagle’s statements about the concern on the spread of false news.
Others, meanwhile, said that they are tired of such content but they will still continue fighting for the truth.
“Cardinal, we’re tired, but we have to fight their lies with the truth, and if it requires bashing the liars and fake news peddlers to show them the light of the truth, then we have no choice but to do so,” one Twitter user said.
“Energized to make a stand for the truth. Thank you our beloved Cardinal,” another Facebook user commented.
Tagle’s posts on the topic came following the issue of circulating links to a fake sex video that involved Aika Robredo, the eldest daughter of Vice President Leni Robredo.
Robredo is running for the presidency in the May elections with her running mate Sen. Kiko Pangilinan.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan previously advised Aika to not get distracted by the incident and to stay focused on doing good to others.
READ: ‘Stay focused on doing good’: Aika Robredo told amid fake sex video issue
