Is the Church ready for a pope from Asia?

May 08, 2025

By Jonathan Y. Tan
Ask any Filipino about Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, and you’ll likely hear a story about how down-to-earth and relatable he is. His supporters refer to him as the “Asian Francis,” but the 67-year-old Tagle is difficult to categorize neatly.

International media have named this Asian cardinal among those who could be elected to succeed Pope Francis, who died last month after a 12-year-long papacy. 

Many Filipinos who knew Tagle, whether as their local priest or bishop, recognized him as someone they could relate to: humble, simple, down-to-earth, and eschewing episcopal pomp and splendour. 

As Bishop of Imus, Tagle was well known for not owning a car and instead relying on a bicycle or public bus, which allowed him to mingle with his flock.

The story often told by the people in Imus is about how, in the early hours of dawn, a young priest arrived on a bicycle at a chapel in a working-class neighborhood to celebrate Mass for a gathering of day laborers before they headed off to find work.

Several astonished laborers realized that this young priest was actually their new bishop, and they felt embarrassed for not having prepared their Spartan chapel for an episcopal visitation. For Tagle, this was no problem — since their regular priest had called in sick, he was happy to visit, celebrate Mass, and get to know his flock as their pastor.

To understand Tagle and his close friendship and deep bond with Pope Francis of blessed memory, one would do well to recognize that both Tagle and Bergoglio share one thing in common – a deep formation in Ignatian charism and spirituality.

Although Tagle is not a Jesuit, his formative years were spent in Jesuit institutions: his undergraduate and master’s studies were at Ateneo de Manila University.

This Ignatian formation and spirituality include an openness to others and the world, a commitment to caring for the whole person (cura personalis) in the fullness of one’s human dignity, bodily and spiritual well-being, serving everyone and pursuing justice, especially for the marginalized and invisible (“men and women for others”), and setting the world on fire with love for Jesus and his Gospel, as succinctly captured in Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s farewell to Saint Francis Xavier as he embarked on his mission to Asia: “Ite! Inflammate omnia!” (Go! Set the world on fire!).

Despite his down-to-earth, humble, and affable manners, Tagle is no academic slouch. At The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, his doctoral dissertation supervisor and world expert on Vatican II and ecclesiology, Father Joseph Komonchak, insists that Tagle is not only his best doctoral student ever throughout his entire teaching career, but that his doctoral dissertation on episcopal collegiality in the Catholic Church is one of the best on this topic.

Tagle’s theological orthodoxy and prowess caught the eye of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who, in 1997, selected him to serve on the Vatican’s International Theological Commission (ITC), which advises the Pope and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

On one hand, Tagle is doctrinally orthodox. In the debates over the Philippines’ controversial 2012 Reproductive Health Law, Tagle unequivocally opposed the liberalization of access to abortion and contraception.

In this vein, Tagle, like Pope Francis, will frustrate and disappoint activists seeking to liberalize the Catholic Church’s doctrines on sexual ethics.

On the other hand, like Pope Francis, Tagle maintains that while doctrine remains unchanged, pastoral strategies can and should evolve to be more inclusive of women and the LGBT community.

Hence, while Tagle will not countenance changing the Church’s teaching on women’s ordination or making same sex marriage a sacrament, he would seek to give women a greater voice and leadership roles without ordination, and find ways of making LGBT Catholics feel at home within the boundaries of existing Catholic doctrine.

Unlike some of the papal frontrunners with limited pastoral experience, Tagle brings a wide range of expertise as a parish priest, seminary rector, bishop, theologian who served on the Vatican’s International Theological Commission, and Vatican administrator who continues to lead the Dicastery for Evangelization.

A charismatic and gifted speaker, Tagle is active on social media platforms and reaches out to Catholics wherever they are.

Inspired by the theology of missio inter gentes developed by fellow Asian theologians and missiologists, as well as Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), Tagle insists that the Catholic Church must go out to where the people are and be immersed in their midst (missio inter gentes).

Indeed, as Archbishop of Manila and later Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Tagle often speaks of bringing the Church to the shopping malls of Manila and to social media platforms where young adults congregate.

In short, Tagle represents a figure within the Catholic Church who, while defending the Church’s doctrinal positions, is nevertheless inspired by the Holy Spirit to discern new and creative strategies for bringing the Gospel of Jesus and the Catholic Church to the peoples in their diverse worlds amid the challenges of daily living.--ucanews.com