MANILA (PHILIPPINES)
Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News) [Hong Kong]
May 28, 2026
By Ruben C. Mendoza
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has raised important points that need to be seriously considered
“Behind headlines and military calculations lie human lives: children deprived of safety, mothers grieving their sons and daughters, families driven from their homes, the wounded left untreated, the elderly abandoned, and communities reduced to rubble…,” thus states the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)’s Pastoral Statement on Peace in a Wounded World, which was released May 20.
“War also wounds our common home…. In this way, war becomes not only a cry of humanity but also a cry of the earth. Future generations inherit the scars of irreversible destruction they did not create,” it adds.
In union with Pope Leo and in solidarity with the victims, the CBCP lent its voice against the ongoing wars throughout the world, and quoted the pope saying, “We cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of so many people, innocent victims of these conflicts. What harms them harms all of humanity.”
The armed conflict in Southwest Asia is of particular concern to Filipinos since there are 1.113 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in that volatile region as of 2025. Those economic migrants not only sustain their families back home, but their remittances have also benefited the national economy.
One can just imagine the uncertainty and fear that the war in Iran has brought upon them and their families in the Philippines. Not only has the war affected the warring nations, but its economic consequences have also been felt by Filipinos in their homeland, where, for the CBCP, the ones “who suffer first are the vulnerable: our daily wage earners, farmers, fisherfolk, transport workers, the elderly, and families living on the edge of survival. Truly, what transpires across distant oceans inevitably reaches the Filipino home, the Filipino table, and the Filipino heart.”
The CBCP rejects “the normalization of violence, the targeting of civilians, acts of terror, collective punishment, and all actions that deepen hatred and division among peoples. Violence breeds only more violence. War leaves wounds that endure for generations.”
The bishops call on the faithful “to resist simplistic narratives, misinformation, hatred, prejudice, and ideological partisanship. As Christians, we do not celebrate war. We do not glorify revenge. We do not demonize entire peoples or religions. Instead, we are called to truth, compassion, justice, and the patient work of reconciliation.”
For the bishops, we are “all brothers and sisters in our one human family, each bearing the God-given dignity of being children of God.”
The CBCP issues a challenge:
- to world leaders to “choose dialogue over domination, diplomacy over destruction, restraint over retaliation, and moral courage over pride and aggression.”
- to world religious leaders to never use religion or the name of God “to justify war, hatred, violence, extremism, or vengeance.”
- to civil leaders to “exercise vigilant and impartial leadership in protecting people and nations from those who would exploit present conflicts and anxieties for political, economic, ideological, or geopolitical gain.”
- to educators to make sure that students are formed according to “the truth, compassion, and wisdom of Christ, rather than according to passing ideologies, prejudice, or rigid worldviews.”
In response to the situation, the CBCP calls on the local churches to pray for peace, to support OFWs and their families, and to promote dialogue, encouraging “mutual respect among neighboring religions, cultures, and peoples” and building “bridges of dialogue, hope, and solidarity within our communities.”
The Filipino bishops have raised important points that need to be seriously considered. I’d like to comment on three of them: the normalization of violence, the use of religion to justify wars, and the recognition of our common humanity.
First, in so many countries, including the Philippines, when leaders don’t get what they want, they resort to violence. For instance, in the efforts of former President Rodrigo Duterte to eradicate the scourge of drugs, he resorted to a “war” that has resulted in thousands of deaths.
He practically “normalized” the “neutralization” of suspects, most of whom did not receive due process. Even his supporters threaten those who oppose him and his “war on drugs” with violent rhetoric. It is apparent that such an approach — a violent one — has become normal and necessary for many.
In the case of Southwest Asia, simply because of its intention to develop its nuclear program, Israel and the US attacked Iran despite the ongoing diplomatic talks between them. It seems that in many conflict areas, violence is the only language that the powerful understand and speak. That is why it is all the more important that leaders become more imaginative and creative in developing a language that resolves their differences peacefully.
Second, we have seen how the protagonists in the US-Israel-Iran war and their supporters have used their religion and faith to perpetuate violence against each other. They place a veil of legitimacy on their efforts by appealing to their faith, but it is actually their respective ideologies that inspire and drive them in their military operations: Christian nationalism and neoliberalism in the US, Zionism in Israel, and the theocratic ideology in Iran.
People of faith must resist those efforts that ideologically interpret their religious traditions, especially when they lead to violence and injustice, and the demonization of the other. They need to call out those who instrumentalize religion for vested interests.
And third, precisely because the other is demonized, and hence, not seen as a fellow human being with the dignity and rights that one has, there is all the more need to engage in dialogue in order to rediscover each other’s humanity.
Many of us have been socialized into thinking of our “enemies” as subhuman, and hence, having less dignity and rights than us. If we are to put an end to the vicious cycle of violence, then we need to swallow our pride and come to the table of dialogue. Hopefully, as we talk to one another with enough openness, we will begin to realize that the other is not that different from us, and that deep down, we all want to live in peace.
The history of the world is marked by too many armed conflicts. It appears that we still have not learned our lesson. That is why Pope Leo’s and the CBCP’s call for peace is a prophetic reminder that God’s peace through Christ is a gift that we are to cherish and a task that we are called to accomplish.
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.