Posted on 05/27/2016 2:38:07 PM PDT by NYer
MANILA, Philippines — The president-elect of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, recently described the country’s bishops as corrupt and “sons of whores” for allegedly resorting to seeking favors from politicians.
During a May 20 press conference, the president-elect described the Catholic Church as “the most hypocritical institution” and insulted the Filipino bishops: “You sons of whores, aren’t you ashamed? You ask for so many favors, even from me.”
Currently mayor of Davao City, Duterte has built his political image as a tough leader. Nicknamed “The Punisher” by Time magazine, Duterte brought law and order to Davao, which was known in the ’70s and ’80s as the murder capital of the country, with drastic measures that included, according to various human-rights organizations, allowing death squads to operate.
It is estimated that more than 80% of Filipinos are part of the Catholic Church.
Duterte won 38.5% of the vote for president of the Philippines during the election held May 9. While the nation’s congress has not yet declared the result official, his lead is unassailable.
He has served as mayor of Davao since 1988, except during a three-year period when he was term-limited and another three-year period when he served as vice mayor, while his daughter Sara was mayor.
During the election campaign, the Church in the Philippines expressed its opposition to several of Duterte’s proposals, such as re-instituting the death penalty.
Duterte admitted to cursing Pope Francis during his January 2015 visit to the Philippines, because he was upset by the traffic jams caused by the papal visit.
According to the president-elect himself, he said at that time, “Pope, you son of a whore, go home; don’t visit us again.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
Catholic ping!
More of a Bill Clinton than a Donald Trump. He didn’t reduce crime; he just made people afraid to report it.
So is the church being affected that way or is this a bunch of nonsense, or something in between?
Is Duterte Catholic, or claim any kind of Christianity?
At any rate, we can be thankful that, so far, we aren’t seeing scandals on this level with any part of Christendom in America. Maybe the church getting elbowed out of Caesar’s palaces over the last few decades was a good thing, because if it tried to stay involved with people who really didn’t want to give the time of day to God, it would have gotten embroiled in worldly scandals.
Unless they’re lying about Davao City, it sure doesn’t look like he’s been ineffective, however we might criticize his manner.
At any rate, to have a firm boundary between the state and the church affairs isn’t necessarily bad. Mixing them up will (1) whitewash the state; and (2) dumb the church down.
Maybe in both Duterte’s and Trump’s cases, the Lord is intending to render unto Caesar, so to speak. And to keep the church, the church. Sometimes critical mass (no pun intended with respect to Catholic practice) and density is needed in order to get a reaction going to where it is useful. Too much tares in a church vision, and one will wink out for lack of nourishment.
They are lying about Davao City.
From Wikipedia (go there for the primary links):
Crime figures reported by Duterte, stated that crime in the city was significantly reduced during the period 19852000. Duterte suggested that there had been a decrease in crime from a triple-digit crime rate per 1,000 people in 1985, to 0.8 cases per 10,000 inhabitants in the period 1999 to 2005. According to police statistics, the population in Davao City grew from 1.12 million to 1.44 million between 1999 and 2008 (29 per cent). In the corresponding period, the incidence of reported crime rose from 975 to 3,391 (248 per cent).[29]
In a user-generated survey released by crowd-sourced rating website Numbeo.com dated April 30, 2015, Davao City ranked as the ninth safest city in the world.[30] In the following two months, Davao City’s rank further moved up to fifth[31] and fourth place, respectively.[32] Numbeo’s data was, however, found to be generated by less than 500 users.[33] Official data from the Philippine National Police continues to list Davao City as the fourth highest city by number of murders and with the second highest number of rape incidents in the Philippines
Have you ever been to the Philippines. Have you ever been to Davao City? I live here! I have lived in the Philippines since February, 2013, and Davao since October, 2013. You need to "buy a clue". Davao is surely safer than Washington, DC that I left.
I walk all over Davao City day and night. I have been in the major marketplace at 3am when the power went out and total blackness ensued. I never felt fear of anything. As the candles and battery lights came on, we continued to walk through the massive Bankerohan market (covers more than 200 acres).
I walk among the people here and receive nothing but smiles. Most speak English as a first language on par with their local dialect. It is largely Catholic, but Protestant churches abound and increase daily. Catholicism is more cultural than religious. The RCC has done a good job of keeping their people away from the Truth through their teaching that nobody gets to heaven without belonging to their group.
You can post all the wiki crap, but the doesn't affirm anything you post. It only serves to provide FUD and obfuscates the truth!
Duterete is giving his personal observations based on his interactions with those bishops and RCC officials. He nails them! My bigger concern is his inclusion and acceptance of Muzzies and Commies... but that is just me! He is the most popular politician in the Archipelago... and the first ever to come from Mindanao to ascend to the Presidency.
Vote Trump!
So much — a Communist.
Duterte: “I am a socialist”. Also his cabinet has 4 Communist members. Another strongman who puts himself above the law.
http://m.inquirer.net/newsinfo/779984
Davao, his homeland, is the murder capital of the Philippines and a nest of Communist and Muslim rebels who he is friends with.
Since when do Freepers back a self described Socialist, a self described Leftist ? Someone who has “cool feelings” towards the US.
Ignorance is bliss, isn't it. You must be getting your information from the same sources.
Do you live here? I do!
This is not the homeland of the Dutertes. He was born and raised on another island, Leyte. 20 years ago, BEFORE DUTERTE BECAME THE MAYOR, Davao City was the "murder capital: Now, that is not true, but you apparently prefer to state lies and old news.
He supports bringing Filipinos of all types together, and expanding opportunity for all. Though I have my own reservations, I haven't booked a ticket out and don't plan to do so!!!
Like I said, go there for the primary links.
Wikipedia is as useful as you make it. If you fail to verify claims, ignore the discussion pages, etc., well, it’s as vulnerable to bias as anywhere else.
If you feel safe, great. I’m inclined to accept personal testimony. Too bed you needed to discredit yourself with the hostility, sarcasm, and justification of someone who rails against Catholic bishops as being whores because they oppose vigilante death squads.
Not that I don’t understand the appeal of vigilantism when people become hopeless against fighting crime. But the notion that the Catholic bishops must be whores because they oppose vigilant death squads makes him out to be an idiot.
I do wish the pope and other Catholic leaders saved some of their moral authority for opposing vigilante death squads (as they have usually ended up on the unfortunate side of the barrel). But then, I also understand that your beloved mayor shares Pope Francis’ unfortunate advocacy of socialism.
My "hostility" is to knee-jerk RCC responses to the man's statement. He has lots of history, as a former RC and now following another way. He responded to the Catholics by telling them of their hypocrisy. RCC worldwide are begging for governments to fund their SOCIALIST agenda. His response was specifically to the begging/demanding of one RCC bishop to give him a car or truck for personal use.
Even in America, the very wealthy RC cult takes money and claims to do good with it. They are the ones supporting those same invading Hispanic rioters you see on the TV today. OPM, not Vatican wealth, keeps the RCC look like do-gooders. Catholics are PROUD of their wealth!
I didn't discredit myself, except in the eyes of some of the same Roman Catholic cultists who I normally take time to preach the gospel Truth. I made my points succinctly and discredited your screed from ignorance...
YMMV!
If I were Cardinal Tagle, I’d go “BROTHER!”
Why not focus on their own Protestant denomination/faith? Wouldn't that seem to be more to the point, rather than attacking Catholics?
It just seems so negative to be on the attack so often. I don't guess that too many Catholics listen to the "attack mode." Just a guess.
The only previous Catholic I know on this thread left the Catholic faith because s/he divorced and remarried. S/he knew it was forbidden, but did it anyway. Now s/he, remarried, attacks the Church for its 2000 year old teachings. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
If s/he is SO sure that s/he is right, then why blather on about it in an attack-the-Church mode? Sure reads like a guilty conscience to me. Just saying....
It is, or ought to be, a pan-Christian concern.
We kwazy evangelicals see Christendom as a whole united by believing upon a Savior for salvation. It would be a mistake to be parochial beyond that — and yet the mistake is made daily.
Long standing custom doesn’t always equate to the wisest thing in the world to do before God.
It’s possible to throw the baby out with the bath water, yes; but that doesn’t make it invalid to try to throw out the bath water.
At any rate, when you see a church or cluster of them racked with intrigue, you can pretty well know that something ungodly is afoot. The system of having a pope doesn’t HAVE to fall to that kind of unholiness, but it’s like the proverbial going out in the cold rain with no protective clothing, “you’ll catch your death of pneumonia.” It’s a vulnerability issue.
We kwazy evangelicals honestly disagree that the Lord needed to keep a physical successor to Peter going, once Peter had passed to heaven. The Orthodox also took exception here; Luther, Calvin, Zwingli etc. really didn’t do anything fundamentally new in that regard.
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