He has often criticized some Catholic priests for alleged abuses but President Duterte has nothing bad to say about nuns.
Speaking at the national assembly of mayors at the historic landmark Manila Hotel Tuesday, the President said nuns are “obedient and religious” while some priests pretend to be “saintly.”
“I have nothing to say about our nuns. They are all obedient and religious,” he said in his remarks.
Duterte, instead, trained his sights on abusive priests, saying some clerics have sexually abused nuns. He claimed that he was right all along to denounce the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church amid allegations of corruption and abuse involving priests.
Pope Francis earlier confirmed that nuns suffered sexual abuse at the hands of priests and bishops while others were held as sex slaves.
“L**** kayong mga pari kayo. Do not pretend to be, you know, saintly, t*** is – kayo, once – tama gyud ang sinabi ko noon when I was mayor. One of the most hypocritical institution sa Pilipinas, Catholic Church,” he said.
In an attempt to highlight clerical abuse, Duterte showed anew a matrix linking a slain Cagayan priest to illicit affairs with women during the gathering of mayors.
Catholic priest Mark Ventura, 37, was killed by assailants after celebrating Sunday mass at Gattaran, Cagayan in April 2018.
“P***** i** ka, kung hindi ka mamatay, tigas ka talaga. Police, army, NBI. Tignan mo, magaganda talaga ang babae,” he said. “Kaya kung ako ang napari, mas mahaba ‘yung matrix ko,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience.
The President, meantime, declared that he would never promote violence against members of the clergy. (Genalyn Kabiling)