Godparents are to be ‘models’ of faith, not gift-givers — Cardinal Tagle

April 2, 2024 - 1:49 PM
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Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle presides over Mass at the Mary Mother of Hope – Landmark Chapel in Makati City on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024. (Landmark Chapel/Earl Jerald Alpay)

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has reminded parents to choose godparents for their child who responsibly witness their faith.

READ: Baptizing kids, Cardinal Tagle says faith can’t be measured by ‘pakimkim’

Speaking during Easter Sunday Mass, he said that godparents should be spiritually rich and that their financial status should be unimportant.

“Unfortunately, some choose godparents who are corrupt, greedy,” Tagle said in his homily at the Landmark Chapel in Makati City.

“Remember that the role of ninong and ninang is not to give gifts. They are supposed to be models of Christian life,” he said.

According to the cardinal, who is the pro-prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, the desired outcome of baptism is being “dead to sin and alive for God.”

“Please, please respect the death of Christ,” he said. “Jesus died on the cross and God raised Him from the dead to bring us new life.”

During the Mass, Catholics also renewed their baptismal promises, and everyone was blessed with holy water.

The former Manila archbishop also urged the faithful ‘not to waste’ the gift of Easter by sharing the gift of baptism with the whole world.

“Transmit this gift of baptism to your grandchildren, to your children, to your friends. Let us not waste this Easter gift,” he said.