Since the 90-day official presidential campaign period kicked off in February, Filipinos have been treated to a series of presidential “debates.” These are but media forums, rather than “debates,” strictly speaking, for a “debate,” as we know it, is a formal public discussion in which two opposing sides argue against each other the validity or invalidity of a particular proposition.
According to Pope Clement VI’s investigations, by 1351, 23,840,000 people had died of the plague in Catholic Europe—about 31 percent of its total population. From the episcopacy and clergy alone, 25 archbishops and 207 bishops had died, and many more clergymen. But there is no mention in Carroll’s narrative about the Church having to close its doors to any actual or potential victim of the plague seeking the grace and mercy of Christian salvation.
Now the shoe finally dropped, but it’s a different shoe altogether and with a completely unexpected result.