Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has called on Filipinos to participate in a grand procession dubbed as “Walk for Life” on Feb. 18, in opposition to the spate of drug-related killings in the country and proposals to revive death penalty.
The call to march came days after the CBCP released its strongest statement yet against President Rodrigo Duterte’s “reign of terror” and his government’s bloody war on drugs, which noted that the solution to the drug problem “does not lie in the killing of suspected drug users and pushers.”
READ: CBCP: Illegal drugs, summary killings are wrong
“I am inviting you to come out on February 18, 2017, at the Quirino Grandstand from 4:30 in the morning until 7 in the morning. Let us walk for life,” CBCP President Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in a video message on Tuesday.
“Let us fill our streets not with blood, not with dead bodies, but with prayer, with courage, to walk, to stand up for life,” he added.
The Catholic Church has been under attack by Duterte and his allies, accusing priests of hypocrisy over allegations of corruption and sexual abuses.
The pastoral statement, which was signed by Villegas and read in all Masses last Sunday, was the first time the Church made a collective stand on extrajudicial killings.
READ: CBCP letter tipping point for opposition, says Leni
“My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is it God’s will that blood be on our streets? Is it God’s will that dead bodies of our brothers and sisters be found on our sidewalks? Is it God’s will that mothers kill the infants in their wombs? It is not God’s will,” Villegas said.
“Our streets must be safe. Our streets should be secure,” he added. RAM
RELATED VIDEO