Duterte tirades vs Church ‘nonsense,’ says bishop

President Rodrigo Duterte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

A Bishop on Saturday said that the public should not take President Rodrigo Duterte’s statements against the Church seriously, because these are “nonsense.”

“It is nonsense. So don’t take seriously the pronouncements of Duterte. The best is simply to ignore such remarks,” CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Mission chairman Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said over church-run Radio Veritas.

Echoing Bastes, CBCP-Episcopal Commission on the Laity chairman Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo in the same interview said, “What he says has no value anyway kasi hindi naman niya pinag-iisipan (because these are not well thought-out).”

Duterte during the oath-taking of new appointees in Malacañang last Thursday launched tirades against the Church anew, saying the institution will be passé in three decades because of its alleged abuses and flaws.

Bishop Bastes and Pabillo, along with Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles and CBCP Permanent Committee on Cultural Heritage chairman Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, remain firm that Duterte will not succeed if he intends to bring down the Catholic Church.

Arguelles and David said that many others before wished and tried vehemently to put an end to the Church but they never succeed in the last two thousand years.

“Attacks from outside never weaken but further strengthen the church. Weakness (immorality, sensuality, infidelity, materialism) especially of its leaders enfeebles the Church but can never end it,” Arguelles said.

“CHURCH: PASSÉ IN 30 YEARS? A lot of people have said the same thing many centuries ago. Some have even tried to destroy the Catholic Church. Well, it appears that not even the sins and weaknesses of its own members could destroy the Church (so far). Actually, the Church seems to be even more effective as a minority,” David added.

Duterte has strained his relationship with the members of the clergy, constantly attacking them for their criticisms to his war on drugs amid their own scandals.

Aside from the brutal drug war, the Church has also expressed dissent against the Duterte government’s plans to reimpose the death penalty and lower the age of criminal liability. IDL

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