[The Wide Shot] Why Cardinal Tagle cried before Edita Burgos could speak

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Having covered him for over a decade, I have seen Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle cry a number of times, especially when he criticized corruption, spoke about refugees, and received bigger responsibilities such as his current Vatican post.

On Friday, July 18, I saw the cardinal cry again, but in a most unexpected context: when he was hosting a “talk show.”

The 68-year-old Tagle, pro-prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, briefly visited Manila this month to keynote two major events: the Serviam Servant Leadership Conference at La Salle Green Hills on July 12, and the 11th Philippine Conference on New Evangelization (PCNE) at the University of Santo Tomas from July 18 to 20.

At the PCNE, which began during his term as Manila archbishop, Tagle delivered an hour-long lecture on Christian hope, presided over a Mass, and even performed the 1960s song “Alfie” to convey a message about genuine love.

He also hosted a panel discussion with GMA broadcast journalist Jessica Soho, basketball player and coach LA Tenorio, and Edita Burgos, mother of the disappeared activist Jonas Burgos.

The discussion, titled “Heart to Heart,” is a PCNE staple that is formatted like a talk show, prompting Soho to comment in jest: “I’m nervous. The tables have turned, Cardinal, I’m the one being interviewed now.”

Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle at the Philippine Conference on New

The first to speak in “Heart to Heart” was Soho, who talked about her experience as a journalist for the past 40 years. Journalists, she said, “are the least hopeful of creatures because we always look for bad news, the problems of society and the world.” But Soho said that “every assignment is a mission,” and that “the story is in the people.”

Right after Soho, Tenorio spoke about his experience as a cancer survivor. The 41-year-old was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in 2023, but is now cancer-free. Tenorio, whose family wanted him to be a priest, said he held on to his Catholic faith. “I never questioned our Lord,” he said. “In the end, my faith saved me.”

It was after Tenorio that Tagle, the “talk show host,” became emotional.

Tagle turned to Burgos, whom he called “Tita Edith.” For 18 years, Burgos has been searching for her son, Jonas, who was abducted by suspected members of the Philippine military on April 28, 2007.

Tagle had known of Jonas’ case for years. The first time Burgos met Tagle was when he was still the bishop of Imus in Cavite — a post he occupied from 2001 to 2011 before he was assigned to Manila.

Burgos said Tagle was a bishop “whom I did not know from Adam” but helped her look for Jonas. “When I went to his office in Cavite to look for my son in the camp, he said, ‘Wait for me, I will just say Mass.’ After the Mass, he accompanied me to the camp so that I could enter.“

“He didn’t know me but he accompanied me,” Burgos said of Tagle.

That was why the Jonas Burgos case bore much emotional weight for Tagle. When it was time to ask his Tita Edith the first question, the cardinal known for his lively preaching style was tongue-tied.

“This is difficult for me,” Tagle said in Filipino, after which he paused for a while. “This is difficult.”

Tears welled up in the cardinal’s eyes. He looked away from Burgos and scratched his neck, wearing a nervous smile.

But his Tita Edith broke the ice, eliciting laughter from the live audience: “Would you prefer that I be the one asking you questions instead?”

What a strong woman, I thought.

Tagle laughed: “I know, right? It feels like things have flipped. Why am I the one crying? Maybe you should be the one crying.” Then the cardinal asked his question: “How is the experience of a mother like you?”

“I don’t cry every minute,” Burgos replied, “but it’s not easy to be the mother of a desaparecido (a disappeared person).”

Editha Burgos at the Philippine Conference on New

She went on to describe the “constant state of suspended anticipation” that she feels as the mother of Jonas. “You don’t know what will happen: Will you see him or not? Is this a truth or a falsehood? Because many falsehoods are presented to us. Will you pray not only for the disappeared but also for the perpetrators? So there’s conflict. It’s very difficult.”

This inner conflict becomes more apparent, she said, whenever she sees a tortured body that she initially suspects to be Jonas, only for it to be another person.

“When you see the body, you cannot even rejoice that ‘it’s not my child.’ Why? Because the body is concrete proof of the cruelty of other human beings. You’ll see it no longer has fingernails, the teeth are gone, the eyes are bulging out, and all that. And you say: ‘Lord, why are people this cruel, that they can do this to their neighbor?”

“But you cannot even condemn the perpetrators because you know they are also children of God. So that’s the conflict that’s difficult to face,” she said.

[The Wide Shot] Why Cardinal Tagle cried before Edita Burgos could speak

Now, Burgos is using her own experience to help other victims, as president of the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances.

Burgos said she takes her cue from Henri Nouwen, a well-known Catholic priest and spiritual writer, who once said: “Pay attention to the people God puts in your path if you want to discern what God is up to in your life.”

She believes it was God who brought her to other human rights victims.

Burgos, a devout Catholic, belongs to the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites. This is a special group of Catholics who, like Carmelite friars and nuns, live a life of contemplative prayer but in the context of the secular world.

She had, in fact, wanted to be a Carmelite nun in her youth, spending a life of prayer in a monastery. Her father, however, thumbed down the idea, saying: “Of all congregations, why do you want that? They’re useless, just kneeling and praying all the time!”

Even if she eventually married and had five children and 10 grandchildren, however, the twists and turns of her life — including the abduction of Jonas — still brought her to Mount Carmel.

“We are sent to these circumstances because there is something good that you can do, to find something good in what is happening,” she said. “It is not easy to speak to victims of enforced disappearances, but because I was sent there, maybe the Lord thinks that there is something that I can do for them.”

Later, as Tagle was about to wrap up the “Heart to Heart” discussion, Burgos interjected: “Cardinal, may I add something? It will be very, very short.”

Burgos shared her views on justice — words that will stay with me for a very, very long time.

“Before, when I said ‘I seek justice,’ I thought I should take revenge: ‘Whoever took my son should pay for it in jail.’ Before, that was my thinking,” she said.

“But now, it’s a different perspective. Justice is not about revenge. It’s about making sure that nobody else suffers the suffering you go through. It’s hard. And if that’s what you’re thinking about justice — to ensure that nobody else suffers — then you’re motivated by love while seeking justice,” Burgos said.

[The Wide Shot] Why Cardinal Tagle cried before Edita Burgos could speak

When she was done speaking, I understood why Tagle cried before “Tita Edith” could speak.

The topic at PCNE was hope — and hours after “Heart to Heart,” Tagle was supposed to deliver an hour-long lecture on two documents written by Pope Francis: Spes Non Confundit (Hope Does Not Disappoint), announcing the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, and Dilexit Nos (He Loved Us), an encyclical on the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Tagle’s reflection revolved around the interconnectedness between hope and love as seen in these papal documents.

The cardinal quoted paragraph 3 of Spes Non Confundit: “Hope is born of love and based on the love springing from the pierced heart of Jesus upon the cross.”

“When somebody is made to experience love, hope springs. All the darkness in the world turns into brightness,” Tagle explained. “And hope, for us, is found in the love of Jesus for us. Love begets hope, and hope is always directed to the love of Jesus for us.”