Duterte rants on sins of Catholic Church

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Tuesday continued his profanitylaced tirades against the Catholic Church for criticizing the government’s war on drugs, calling the church leaders “full of shit.”

“Nauna kayo. Ako walang problema ( You’re the first. I have no problem). I challenge you now, I challenge the Catholic Church. You are full of shit. Mabaho pa rin kayong lahat ( You all stink). Corruption and all,” Mr. Duterte said in hour- long speech peppered with profanities before the widows and children of the slain SAF 44, adding:

“Kung sabihin ninyo nag-sinungaling ako at wala kayong karapatang mag-mura, mag- resign ako. Walang problema. Pero kapag ito, nabasa niyo ito, sabihin ko sa mga bishop, marami kayo e, Pareho man pala ang baho natin — babae, ganon. Pero kayo, corruption. Wala ako sa pera. Sa babae lang. Medyo limitado yung akin ( If you say that I’m lying and you have no right to curse, I will resign. No problem. But if you read this, I will tell the bishops, we both have the same stink — women, like that. But you, corruption. I have nothing to do with money. Only women. Mine is limited),” the President added, holding a book by the late Rappler journalist Aries Rufo on his investigative journalism on the Catholic Church.

Mr. Duterte then accused Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro C. Bacani of having two wives.

“Si Bacani, putang ina na Bacani iyan, dalawa pala ang asawa. Pareho ako. Buang. Tapos kung mag- salita itong unggoy na ito, tang ina (Bacani, that son of a bitch Bacani, has two wives after all. Like me. Fool. And when this monkey talks, son of a bitch),” he said.

In his speech at the World Apostolic Congress on Mercy last week, Mr. Bacani condemned the spate of killings in Mr. Duterte’s brutal drug war, tagging the police as “bringer of death.”

Mr. Duterte defied conventional political wisdom with his huge win in the presidential elections last year, after a heated campaign that saw his popularity surge on threats to kill tens of thousands of criminals and vulgar tirades against establishment figures.

Mr. Duterte has also set himself up for confrontation with the Church on another public concern, promising to bring back the death penalty. —