Duterte tells CBCP head: Don't use pulpit to hit me, my policies

MANILA, Philippines — The Catholic Church should not use the pulpit as a place to criticize President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration, the chief executive told the leader of the country's bishops.

“[O]ne of the things the President mentioned was given that there is the separation of the Church and State, it is hoped that they (Church) would not use the pulpit to criticize his administration,” said presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. in Filipino in a press briefing held in Indang, Cavite on Tuesday.

Roque added that the president would take criticisms from the common Filipino, but members of the clergy should refrain from using the pulpits in churches to preach against the policies of his administration because of the separation of the Church and State in our constitution.

In Tuesday’s private meeting between Duterte and Valles held in Malacañang, the two agreed to refrain from making remarks related to the Church to ease the tensions sparked by Duterte’s controversial remarks on God.  

The meeting started at around 4 p.m. and lasted for 30 minutes, according to Duterte’s longtime aide and special assistant Christopher “Bong” Go.

READ: Duterte, CBCP approve ‘ceasefire’

The past few weeks saw the president of a predominantly Catholic nation drawing flak and criticism from government and Church officials for his continuous tirades against God.

At one point, he even called God “stupid” for tempting Adam and Eve in the creation story in the Bible.

Duterte later clarified that he was just “shaking the tree” when he made the provocative statements and promised to “shut up” on his issues against the clergy.

In the pastoral exhortation titled “Rejoice and be glad” issued by the CBCP on Monday after its three-day plenary session, the country’s bishops said they were not politicians and political opponents of the government.

“The Church respects the political authority, especially of democratically-elected government officials, as long as they do not contradict the basic spiritual and moral principles we hold dear, such as respect for the sacredness of life, the integrity of creation, and the inherent dignity of the human person,” the pastoral exhortation read.

The CBCP also called for a three-day period of fasting, prayer and almsgiving from July 17 to 19 for those “who have blasphemed God’s Holy Name, those who slander and bear false witness, and those who commit murder or justify murder as a means for fighting criminality in our country.” — Philstar.com intern Christian de Lano Deiparine