PHILIPPINES
Philippine Daily Inquirer
By: Jeannette I. Andrade, Tina G. Santos
@inquirerdotnet
Archbishop Socrates Villegas didn’t think Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s expletive against Pope Francis was funny.
“When a revered and loved and admired man like Pope Francis is cursed by a political candidate and the audience laugh, I can only bow my head and grieve in great shame. My countrymen have gone to the dregs,” said the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
In an interview with reporters on Tuesday, Duterte warned the prelates against continuing tirades against him.
“I will destroy the Church and the present status of so many priests and what they are doing,” he said. “You priests, bishops, you condemn me and suggest I withdraw, but then I will start to open my mouth. There are so many secrets that we kept as children. Do not force (me to speak) because this religion is not so sacred.”
Victim
He said he was among the victims of child abuse by priests.
“If they want, they can start it and I’ll tell everything. From my years in Ateneo [de Davao] until we grew up, and it will make them sad, very sad,” he said. “They have secrets, I have secrets.” He stressed his comment on the Pope was “inadvertence.”
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