Undeterred by Pope’s blessings, Duterte continues his tirade against priests
manila — Undeterred by a blessing from Pope Francis, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte launched an angry rebuke on Thursday of priests and bishops critical of his drugs war, accusing them of homosexuality, corruption and of abusing children.
Duterte was furious over concerns by the Catholic Church of alleged extrajudicial killings during his crackdown and lambasted clergymen for denouncing him instead of using their influence to get people off drugs.
His no-holds-barred tirade came a day after one of Duterte’s top advisers met Pope Francis at the Vatican and said the Pontiff had told him he would bless the Philippines, and “also bless your president”.
In a speech to policemen, the firebrand leader of one of only two majority Catholic Asian countries challenged the church to a “showdown” and threatened to expose priests and bishops for a litany of abuses.
“Most people here are Catholics. If you are a good priest, make them understand that they will die,” he said, referring to drug users.
“You criticise the police, you criticise me. For what? You have the money. You are all crazy ... when we were making confessions to you, we were being molested. They are touching us. What is your moral ascendancy, religion? What is the meaning of it?”
Duterte said members of the clergy had wives and were engaging in homosexual acts, practices prohibited by the Catholic Church. Priests were also misusing state funds, he said, and they could not explain where vast amounts of money from public donations had gone.
“You expose me, fine. I expose you. Why? Your mistake is just all right, but ours is not? Bullshit. That is a big joke,” he said.
“You asked for it. So if you really want a showdown, showdown. Make a change.