CBCP issues guidelines to Catholic voters ahead of 2016 polls

FILE PHOTO /INQUIRER.net

A few months before the 2016 national elections, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Tuesday issued a guide to Catholic voters, who comprise majority of the country’s voting population.

In a statement, CBCP President and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas reminded Catholics that the Church does not endorse any candidate.

“Reject claims by candidates that they are candidates of the CBCP, or of a diocese, or of a particular bishop. It has never been the practice of the Catholic Church to hold out a candidate to the faithful as the ‘chosen’ candidate of the Church. Church doctrine has remained consistent: Partisanship is an arena into which the Church should not venture,” Villegas said.

“We your bishops commit to desist from any action or statement that may give the appearance of persuading the faithful to vote for a particular candidate. While bishops, as citizens of the Republic, have the right to make their own choices, our office in the Church as well as our stature, of which we are all unworthy, urge upon us that circumspection that should prevent misunderstanding and confusion among our flock,” he added.

Villegas said Catholic voters should vote for candidates “who came to serve and not to be served,” adding that Catholics should not support those opposed to moral teachings.

“They must look for the realization of Gospel values in the lives, words and deeds of those desirous of public office, realizing that there are no perfect candidates. There is a crucial difference between one who has been wrong in the past and is willing to amend his ways, and one who exhibits stubbornness and obstinacy,” the CBCP chief said.

“A Catholic voter cannot, in good conscience, support a candidate whose legislative or executive programs include initiatives diametrically opposed to Church moral teachings on such vital issues as abortion, euthanasia, the return of the death penalty, divorce and the dilution of the character of Christian marriage,” he added.

But Villegas said Catholics were “not closed to the candidacy of a non-Catholic,” as candidates belonging to other religions may also be qualified and worthy of electoral posts.

The archbishop also warned of candidates who have “thus far spent time demolishing the reputation and tarnishing the good name of fellow candidates,” saying that such bets may have nothing good to offer in the political discourse.

“We warn against the use of government resources, the power of government offices and instrumentalities and subtler forms of coercion and intimidation to promote the chances of a particular candidate. It is God’s will to provide his people with shepherds after His merciful heart,” Villegas said.

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