The Necessity of a Fourth Estate Element in the Mainstream Catholic Media in the

Philippines
By Joseph Moscoso and Jabez Portilla
All for the glory of Christ the King and Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the Philippine Church!

According to the Code of Canon Law (1987, 212), it is unequivocal that the Catholic
Church gives Christians, more so the laity, the right to express their stances to the
ecclesiastical hierarchy, especially when it “pertains to the good of the Church”. Having
a Catholic media or journalistic outlet, therefore, is one of the healthy requisites for
fulfilling this canon’s spirit (Baumgartner, 1931).

This, however, should not be a “technological journalism,” as emphasized by Zelizer

(2011), where published Church news is reduced to a medium of plain facts and details,
nor should it be a bureaucratic mouthpiece of the hierarchy, as it sometimes is with
secular politics (Simonov, 2005).

Catholic journalism, applying the elements of Kovach and Rosenstiel (2021), should be
an agent of public discussion and constructive criticism about Church doctrine,
promulgated episcopal and/or pontifical decrees, and even public acts of the clergy and
influential personages in the Church concerning their morals, liturgical actions, and
statements.

While these elements are present in the reportage of other countries such as the United
States and France, the mainstream Catholic media outlets existing in the Philippines still
lack this vigor of advocacy— a “subjective tradition” (Donsbach, 2010) that would ignite
discourse among Filipino Catholics for the greater good of the Church.

Filipino Clericalism

Starting in 2021, Pope Francis commenced the “Synod of Synodality.” In a nutshell, it is

a consultative process where anyone, lay, clergy, and even non-Catholics, are
encouraged to participate in discussions about the state of the Church, and, when it
applies, what reforms that could be enacted (Sanem, 2022), thus straying away from
the perception that colloquies on doctrine and laws are exclusively for the ordained.
This movement to ecclesiological democratization, which has been ongoing since the
Second Vatican Council (Luciani, 2022), shows that, theoretically, the Church wants the
knowledgeable laity to contribute to its operation.

Unfortunately, due to the triumph of Filipino culture, this “media synodality” could not
undergo its ideal pragmatic application.

In a study conducted by Abellanosa (2017), he identified two points on how clericalism,

which is defined as the overemphasis on the disparity between the laity and the clergy
(Cozzens, 2015 as cited in Abellanosa, 2017), applies to the Philippine Church.

The first point is when bishops and priests, not only refuse to have public discussions of
their errors, but conceal them to avoid accountability (Cartagenas, 2011, as cited in
Abellanosa, 2017). Abellanosa sees this as a lack of transparency by the clergy to not
taint the reputation of the sacerdotal state and the Church. While the latter’s research,
however, focuses solely on clerical sexual abuse cases, Brunk (2022) also points out
other matters, specifically liturgical abuse as one contributor to clericalism in this
context.

The second point is the visible exaggerated perception towards the clergy’s authority
and power in society. Abellanosa pointed out that, while the laity has already been able
to hold certain functions in the liturgy and parochial activities, the clergy’s word will still
be regarded as dogmatic. This phenomenon can be affirmed by Manaloto (2019) when
he observed that Filipinos tend to solely recognize the clergy as the legitimate authority
on ecclesiasial matters (Alviar & Tesoro, 2004 as cited in Manaloto, 2019).

Consequently, the report made by Tandoc (2016) shows that, even among journalists
themselves, the clergy is not given the same scrutiny as much as other societal
institutions like the government.
A Catholic Fourth Estate

Despite the absence of the political and controversial within the mainstream, the
Catholic ecclesiastic “public sphere” (Habermas, 1989 as cited in Donsbach, 2010)
nevertheless occurs in other media platforms such as blogs, social media, and
independent publications.

From 2020-2021, Paolo Miguel Cobangbang ran Q&A with the Pseudo-Liturgist utilizing
Facebook Live. Almost similar to a live talk radio, Cobangbang employs a
straightforward delivery of fact-based information on Church matters. The range of his
topics sometimes had elements that antagonize the superfluity of Church personages
ordinarily avoided by legitimate Catholic news outfits.

While this unorthodox method of circulating information could be frowned upon in the
secular mediasphere (Bandeli & Agarwal, 2018; Tapsell, 2020), the objectivity of
Catholic regulations, such as liturgical rubrics or Canon Law, renders the arguments in
their watchdog literature as valid points for criticism. In fact, the already existing
independent media platforms mentioned could already be a possible prototype in
establishing the Catholic fourth estate, given the qualities they already possess. It must
be noted, however, that this reference to the non-mainstream media is not synonymous
to forming an alternative critical press in constant clash with the Catholic hierarchy,
similar to the framework described by Fuchs (2010)1.

According to Norris (2014), watchdog journalism is defined as a platform where difficult

inquiries squeeze the truth out of the governing body in question, all in the name of
public service. This form of journalism, thus, goes further to exposing abuses, lies, and
other things their subject deems too scandalous to publicize. These are also details
journalists would not usually tread (Bennett & Serrin, 1999). In his book, Waisbord
(2000) describes the effectiveness of their journalism methods in fundamentally
reforming the democracies of South America thus holding corrupt government leaders
1
The issue is not a disagreement towards the existing content but rather the absence of a Catholic
ecclesiastical fourth estate. These other media platforms simply fill the vacuum which should be properly
integrated into the mainstream Catholic news sites.
accountable. Applying this journalistic macrostructure to proper Catholic news in the
Philippines, fourth estate journalism styles will no doubt bring about the necessary
reform2 in the Church.

Conclusion: Sentire cum Ecclesia

The popular statement, “the Catholic Church is not a democracy” (Warhurst, 2017;
McCann 1987) can be considered a confirmation of its dogmatic and
pseudo–monarchistic nature.

Even the preparatory documents of the Synod on Synodality resent perceptions that the
synod follows a majority-based spirit (Vatican, 2021). This may be the reason devout
Filipinos, who have always been predominantly attached to Catholicism, find it
distasteful to criticize and contradict their religious superiors the same way they do in
the secular arena in matters of doctrine and morality. The very appropriation of these
democratic elements (Bennett & Serrin, 1999) radically surpasses even the
post-conciliar spirit of the Church thus bordering on a potential framework of Church
activism (Di Salvo, 2020).

To form a Catholic fourth estate, however, is not to be anti-Catholic nor anti-clerical in

doing journalism. It does not follow the freethinking spirit where criticism towards priests
comes from personal opinion and values (McGreevy, 1997) to incite revolution towards
centuries of unbroken dogmatic tradition. On the contrary, to institute the fourth estate in
Church journalism is to work for the benefit of the Church. Unlike secular reporting on
the Church, it uses the lens of Catholicism, or “sentire cum ecclesia” as St. Ignatius de
Loyola puts it, as the standard to scrutinize those who serve the Church and its flock.

Clerics and religious are not spared from doing evil and committing mistakes (Coleman,
2006; Cozzens, 2000, 2006; Manuel, 2012 as cited in Plante, 2020). The Catechism of

2
“Reform”, in this context, does not mean the disruption of the unchanging tradition of the Church (i.e
Protestant Reformation) through popular means, but the rectification of errors and abuses which have
already become the normative, similar to the reformation of religious orders in the 16th century.
the Catholic Church (2000) confirms this by stating, “the Church is both human and
divine”. As Catholics must defend the Church and its tenets (Vatican II, 1964), so does
a journalist have an obligation to the truth (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2021).

For a true Catholic and journalist, that is no contradiction.

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