Guitar-playing 'karaoke cardinal' in the mix to become the new Pope: How Filipino bishop Luis Antonio Tagle dubbed 'Asian Francis' is among favourites to win conclave vote... but has also been embroiled in scandal

Daily Mail​

08-05-2025

A guitar-playing, karaoke-loving cardinal is in the mix to become the next leader of the Catholic Church.
Filipino bishop Luis Antonio Tagle, aka 'Asian Francis,' is one of the favorites bidding to win the conclave vote.
But, despite being a top contender, the 67-year-old has been embroiled in a recent scandal that threatens to tarnish his reputation.
The process of electing a new Pope began yesterday when 133 cardinals sealed themselves into the Sistine Chapel for the centuries-old ritual of conclave, a secretive vote to elect the 267th pontiff following the death of Pope Francis.
Among them was karaoke fanatic Tagle, an unexpected candidate who previously laughed when asked if he had considered the idea that he might one day take the Vatican's reins.
The once inconspicuous cardinal shot to fame after footage of him performing John Lennon 's Imagine on stage went viral online last year.
Since then, he has won the hearts of many Catholics with his progressive approach, infectious smile, and humble demeanor.
However, Tagle has recently come under scrutiny after he was accused of mishandling child sex abuse claims.
Just days ago campaign group Bishop Accountability claimed Tagle and Italian cardinal Pietro Parolin, both front-runners to be the next pontiff, cannot be trusted to protect children from abuse.
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of Bishop Accountability, accused Tagle, former Archbishop of Manila, of doing nothing to pull the church in the Philippines out of the 'dark ages' of abuse.
She also highlighted that guidelines on dealing with sexual abuse cases have not been published on the webpages of the Manila archdiocese.
'If Cardinal Tagle cannot even get his brother bishops from his home country to publish guidelines, what on earth can we expect for him to achieve as pope of a global church?' asked Doyle.
On Saturday evening the The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines issued a rare statement on clerical sexual abuse, defending Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle on the issue before the process to elect a new pope began.
In its statement, the CBCP said Tagle had 'actively participated' in developing and implementing the guidelines, both in Imus and later in Manila.
'Since his appointment to a full-time position in the Roman Curia, Cardinal Tagle no longer holds direct authority over any diocese in the Philippines,' the statement added.
It also noted the key role Tagle - who served as archbishop of Manila between 2011 and 2019 - had played in crafting pastoral guidelines on sexual abuse that were disseminated in 2003.
Like the late Argentine pope, Tagle hails from a country far from the Catholic Church's traditional power base of Europe and came to Rome with an outsider's view.
He was born in Imus, near the capital region Metro Manila, to Catholic parents who worked in a bank.
'He's [from] a very simple family – not poor but not rich,' Mary John Mananzan, a missionary benedictine sister who has known Tagle for decades told The Guardian.
Tagle reportedly initially wanted to become a doctor, but entered the church after a priest tricked him into applying to a seminary in Quezon City.
He obtained a doctorate at the Catholic University of America and became Bishop of Imus and, later, archbishop of Manila.
He was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.
Some who have put Tagle on unofficial short lists for the next pope say he would be a shoo-in to succeed Francis if cardinal electors are looking for as close a similarity as possible in order to assertively continue Francis' progressive streak.
If Tagle were elected, it would also likely signal to the world's 1.4 billion Catholics that the cardinals want to go forward with Francis' vision of generally opening up the Church to the modern world by not choosing a man who might roll back some of the late pope's reforms.
It would also mean his fellow cardinals had shrugged off question marks over his management abilities.
'He would represent a continuity of what Pope Francis has been doing,' said Rev. Emmanuel Alfonso, a former student of Tagle's who has known him for decades.
'He's really like Pope Francis in terms of his love for the poor, his approachability and so on.'
Tagle would be the first pope from what is now considered Asia, although in the early Church some popes hailed from what is now called the Middle East, technically part of Asia.
Tagle, who looks younger than his 67 years and likes to be called by his diminutive nickname 'Chito', has headed the Vatican's Dicastery for Evangelization, effectively the Church's missionary arm, for the past five years.
That position gave him enormous influence over national churches in developing countries.
As archbishop of Manila, and before as bishop of the Philippine city of Imus, Tagle gained pastoral experience in running dioceses in Asia's largest Catholic country.
By bringing him to the Vatican in 2020, Francis gave him one more notch in experiences seen as helpful to papal candidates.
Tagle's move to Rome brought criticism from then-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who oversaw a bloody 'war on drugs' that killed thousands of Filipinos during his 2016-2022 administration.
Duterte said Tagle had been removed from Manila for meddling in national politics.
The Philippine Catholic bishops' conference denied those accusations forcefully.
Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, a conference official made a cardinal in 2024, called Duterte's claim 'unbelievably ludicrous'.
Many cardinals already know Tagle personally, and many may see an attraction in having a pope from Asia, viewed by Church leaders as an important region of growth for the faith.
When Tagle hosted Francis for a visit to the Philippines in 2014, the visit drew the largest crowds in the history of papal travel, including a Mass that attracted up to 7 million people.
Tagle, who speaks Italian, English, and Spanish as well as his native Tagalog, now has five years of experience with the Vatican's arcane bureaucracy, although some cardinals may think even that is not enough to run the global Church.
One possible weakness in Tagle's candidacy is that he was involved in a management scandal three years ago.
In 2022, Francis removed him from a second job as titular head of a Vatican-based confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social services organisations working in more than 200 countries.
Francis fired the entire leadership of the group, called Caritas Internationalis, following allegations of bullying by top management.
Tagle's role, akin to a chancellor of the organisation, was mostly symbolic and ceremonial. He was not directly involved in day-to-day running and was generally admired by staffers.
Unlike Francis, Tagle enjoys a global reputation as a theologian, which could help him gain votes from moderate cardinals concerned by some of Francis' off the cuff utterances, which led to what some called confusion about Church teachings.
In the 1990s, he served on the Vatican's International Theological Commission under German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was known as a strict adherent to traditional doctrine and would later become Pope Benedict XVI.
Rev. Joseph Komonchak, Tagle's professor at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., said the cardinal was one of his best students in 45 years of teaching.
'Not the least of Chito's virtues was the joy that he radiated on everyone who encountered him,' said Komonchak. 'He had a fine sense of humor, which endeared him to his fellow students.'
Rev. Robert Reyes, a seminary classmate who has known Tagle for more than 50 years, said Tagle has an ability to connect with people and a simple style of living. When he first became a bishop in 2001, he didn't own a car.
'He preferred to take rides, to hitch a ride with someone driving to a place that perhaps both of them were going to,' said Reyes.
While 67 is sunset age in many organisations, it is considered young in the Vatican, because few cardinals want a very long pontificate.