President Duterte is neither an anti-Christ nor a bully terrorizing the Catholic Church over his recent criticisms about the institution, according to a Palace official.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the President’s comments against some Church doctrines were merely part of promoting intellectual discourse that could lead to spiritual enlightening.
“When you say anti-Christ, you go against the teachings of Christ and the values that He teaches so when the President gives specific instances of wrongs done by a particular Church or the followers, then those acts are anti-Christ. But when you question doctrines, it doesn’t mean you are anti-Christ. You are questioning the concept and it’s for you to explain to the non-believer,” Panelo said.
Panelo defended the President’s opposing views about the church doctrines, saying these were part of free speech. He also denied that the President’s remarks were “abusive” or tantamount to bullying, saying the Church could ably defend itself.
“I would not call that abusive. I call that intellectual discourse questioning the validity of certain doctrines of your religion,” he said. “Individuals have certain dogmas whether one of politics and religion and you cannot deprive that particular individual to expound his views on that. That’s part of the freedom of expression,” he added.
Asked if the President was being a bully, Panelo said: “No. You know when you say a bully, you create fear, you intimidate people.”
“You do that to defenseless people. The Church is not defenseless. It is in fact an authority on certain doctrine and it can defend itself. You bully somebody who cannot defend oneself. That’s not bullying. That’s expressing one’s opinion on a particular matter,” he said.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas recently wrote an open letter to his godson advising him to respect God and attend mass, saying those telling him otherwise were anti-Christ. “They are not for Christ. They are against Christ,” he said in a Facebook post. (Genalyn Kabiling)
