ABS-CBN pulls out ‘No Race No Religion’ papal shirts from online shop

Photos of ABS-CBN’s papal shirts shared by blog sites. Screengrab from https://www.splendorofthechurch.com.ph

MANILA, Philippines—Television network ABS-CBN has pulled out one of the papal merchandise that they are selling in anticipation of the visit of Pope Francis in January next year.

The move came after Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, on Monday warned the public against buying shirts and merchandise bearing messages supposed to have been made by the pope.

“It is definitely misleading and erroneous,” Villegas said in a statement posted in CBCP News.

In a report from ABS-CBN, Bong Osorio, spokesman of the company, said the shirts bearing “No Race, No Religion” words were not meant to deceive the public regarding Pope Francis’ message of openness.

“ABS-CBN assures the public that there was no intent to deceive or mislead the public through the commemorative shirt that carry statements inspired by Pope Francis’ message of love, openness, and humility,” Osorio said.

“We apologize if a particular statement shirt offended anyone. We are pulling out the item from our online shop and all retail partner stores,” Osorio added.