Roque talks with Papal Nuncio during 'no holds barred' meeting

MANILA, Philippines — Top Church officials “welcome” any dialogue with President Rodrigo Duterte, his spokesman said Saturday after a “no holds barred” meeting with Papal Nuncio Gabriel Giordano Caccia.

Duterte sparked public outrage in the predominantly Catholic Philippines after he called God a “stupid son of a bitch” for creating Adam and Eve only to allow their purity to be destroyed by temptation.

“In my meeting with the Papal Nuncio yesterday night, it was agreed that both State and Church should work together for the benefit of the people,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

Roque said Duterte will have a one-on-one dialogue with the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. The Papal Nuncio was also willing to have “further meetings” with the president, he added.

The hugely popular Duterte and the Church, which has a significant political and social clout in the Philippines, have repeatedly locked horns amid mounting death toll in the government’s bloody war on drugs.

Duterte early this week clarified he was calling the God of Catholics "stupid" and not his God who he said had common sense. For his part, Roque said the feisty leader was venting his rage as a victim of sexual abuse by a priest when he was a student.

The Palace has formed a four-man committee that would dialogue with the Catholic Church and other religious groups to ease the tension sparked by Duterte’s controversial remarks about God. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral