Anti-Duterte or not, Catholics join ‘Penitential Walk for Life’

Hundreds of Catholic faithful joined the Good Friday 5-kilometer “Penitential Walk for Life,” whether or they support President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war.

“There’s no politics here,” Sol Arago, one of the participants told INQUIRER.net in Filipino after the march in Manila. “ We’re here because we are Catholics and we should defend life.”

Janet Ignacio from Taguig City, meanwhile, said: “I’m sure some of us here are supporting President Duterte. But they joined the walk as Catholics. We should be pro-life.”

As early as 4 a.m., clergymen, religious leaders, and Catholic devotees gathered along the usually busy Roxas Boulevard to start their procession to the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros.

The participant, most of whom wore white, came from different age groups, with some parents bringing their kids in strollers.

Thirty minutes after, as the number of participants grew, they started to march. They stopped to pray at each “Station of the Cross,” which commemorates the passion and death of Jesus.

The 14th and last station was at the Manila Cathedral. The march ended at 9 a.m.

At each station, devotees offered prayers for the victims of oppression, calamities and injustices.

Asked to explain her purpose for joining the walk, Ignacio said: “I’m opposing drug killings, the death penalty and the EJKs (extrajudicial killings). The sanctity of life is very important.”

For her part, Arago said she offered her lenten penance for the victims of calamities, adding that she also prayed for safety after a series of earthquakes hit the country.

At the Manila Cathedral, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle welcomed the devotees after the four-hour procession.

He then led the prayer for the last station, which was offered for the success of the government’s peace negotiation with the communist insurgents.

In his homily, Tagle said that, as Catholics remember the death of Jesus, they should be wary of the “culture of death” creeping into society.

READ: Tagle tells public: Fight culture of death with culture of love

He also urged the people to speak up against violence and killings in the country and in the world.

READ: Stand up against killings, violence, injustice—Tagle

“Hindi po pwede na tayo ay nagmamasid, hihikbi lamang at magrereklamo,” he said. “Kailangan kumilos ang bawat isa sa maliliit na paraan.”

(“We cannot just observe, cry and complain. We need to act on it, no matter how small our contributions may be.”) /atm