An outcry in the Philppines about a new law banning religious icons in cars may be a bit overstated. Amidst a raft of safety measures introduced to stop drivers from being distracted, hanging rosaries and religious icons have been banned from vehicles. Icons that don’t swing around are allowed. Talking or texting on mobile phones, Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Philippines’
Archbishop appalled at Catholics behaviour
Thursday, April 20th, 2017
Philippine bishops’ conference head, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, said he is appalled at the way Catholics in the Philippines are behaving. They are making their clergy “martyrs” to harassment on social media and an easy target of trolls who make up lies for the media about them. This is because of the clergy’s continued criticisms to Read more
Duterte’s drug war plants drugs, pays killers
Thursday, April 20th, 2017Two senior police officers in the Philippines say some Philippine police have received cash payments for executing drug suspects, planted evidence at crime scenes and carried out most of the killings in President Duterte’s drug war. These same police blame “vigilantes” for the attacks which focus on killing the poor, the senior police officers say. Read more
Thousands of Filipino Catholics protest drug killings
Monday, February 20th, 2017
Thousands of Filipino Catholics have marched to protest against President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly crackdown against illegal drugs. The protest tagged ‘Walk for Life’ was endorsed by Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. Police estimate over 50,000 took part in the march. The drug crackdown has left thousands of drug suspects dead. According to a Police Read more
Philippines drug killings divide once powerful Catholic church
Friday, October 14th, 2016
Philippines drug killings are dividing its once-powerful Catholic church. Some priests say challenging the thousands of killings in President Duterte’s campaign could be dangerous. Others support it. More than 3,600 people have died at the hands of police and suspected vigilantes since Duterte took power in June. Most were small-time drug users and dealers. Duterte Read more
Public death threats – Philippine President likens his drug-killings to Nazi extermination
Tuesday, October 4th, 2016
Public death threats against drug dealers and addicts in the Philippines aim to scare them into stop selling drugs and to discourage would-be users. President Rodrigo Duterte openly compares his bloody anti-crime war to Hitler and the Holocaust. He says he would be “happy to slaughter” three million addicts. The Catholic Church in the Philippines is Read more
Filipino Christians fear going to Mass due to threats from Islamist radicals
Friday, August 26th, 2016
Filipino Christians are afraid to go to Mass because of perceived threats from Islamist radicals. “Before, the Philippines was a dream place for inter religious dialogue between Christians and Muslims … but now people are frightened even to go to Mass”, said Fr. Sebastiano D’Ambra, an Italian missionary in Italian missionary living in Mindanao in Read more
Philippines people in love with Mary
Tuesday, July 12th, 2016
A long-venerated icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help turned 150 this year, and many Filipinos’ Marian devotion has never been stronger. “There is one clear reason for the thousands of devotees who flock to Baclaran: the special Marian piety of the Filipino people,” Fr. Joseph Echano, CSsR, rector of the National Shrine of Our Read more
Clergy abuse survivor could be next Philippines president
Friday, April 22nd, 2016
A leading candidate for the Philippines presidency could, if elected, be the first survivor of clergy sexual abuse to be a head-of-state. Rodrigo Duterte, the long time mayor of Davao City, has said he was abused at the Ateneo de Davao High School, a Jesuit-run school, in the late 1950s. Duterte recently surged to the Read more
Philippine bishop calls Madonna ‘amoral’ over crucifix dance routine
Tuesday, March 1st, 2016
A Filipino Catholic bishop dubbed international pop diva Madonna “amoral” for climbing a stripper pole shaped like a crucifix during her concert in Manila last week. “I never thought there could be people like that who cannot tell the difference between right and wrong and are only driven by desire to make money,” said retired Read more