President Rodrigo Duterte, right, with Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, wait for the start of the Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas (PAFIOO) at the Rizal Hall in Malacañan Palace on Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2019. (Photo from an RTVM video)
MANILA, Philippines — Almost 90 percent of Catholic priests are homosexuals, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday.
Duterte made the remark as he again attacked the Catholic Church, which has been critical of his brutal war on drugs and anti-criminality campaign.
“The most hypocritical institution in the entire Philippines is the Catholic Church and the Pope knows that,” he said in a speech during the Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas in Malacañang.
“No offense intended,” he added. “I have so many relatives who are gay. I have two brother-in-laws who are gay. But most of the priests there are homosexuals, almost 90 percent of you. So do not postulate on my morality.”
The President made the remarks days after Pope Francis told gay priests to be celibate or leave the priesthood.
He again blamed the stance of the Church, whom he described as “the idiots of our time,” for the for the growing population in the Philippines.
“We are very poor. We have a runaway population,” he said. “It’s because of the Church. They have always been against family planning. But the priests and the bishops are also into it producing more Filipinos. The idiots of our times.”
In a speech on Nov. 26, Duterte urged Catholics to stop going to church and just build their own chapel.
READ: Duterte tells people to build own chapel to pray, stop going to church
The chief executive has been attacking the Church in his speeches, even calling it “full of shit.”
He also earlier earned the ire of the public and the Catholics for calling God “stupid” and questioning the creation theory in the Bible. /atm