DESPITE the curses President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has unleashed against the Catholic Church and its prelates, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines president and Lingayen Archbishop Socrates Villegas declined to respond and instead invoked the “silence of Jesus before the arrogance of Pilate.”
“Mine is the language of peace that refuses the dark magic of revenge,” Villegas said in response to Duterte’s repeated and profanity-laced criticism of the Catholic Church as “most hypocritical institution.”
“Mine is the silence of respect for those who consider us their enemies but whose good we truly pray for and whose happiness we want to see unfold.
“There is virtue in silence. There is virtue in speech. Wisdom is knowing when it is time for silence and when is the timing for speech,” Villegas said.
“You can understand my speech if you speak the language of silence. You can understand my silence if you know how to love like Him who was born one silent night,” the bishop added.
Outspoken Benedictine nun Mary John Mananzan said she will follow Villegas call for the “silence of Jesus” and said it would be best to just pray for Duterte over the next six years.
“It makes me sad that [Duterte] is so against many people. He turns off so many people but [with] regards to the Catholic Church, I’ll take the cue from Bishop Soc [Villegas] and be quiet about it,” Mananzan was quoted as saying by the ABS-CBN television network.
Mananzan said Duterte’s statements against the Catholic Church is no longer new and the Church, under the leadership of Pope Francis, continues to implement reforms up to the present time.
“The Catholic Church has been there for 2,000 years and no one person will be able to put it down. I would rather not go down to any level. So what if these people do not like the Catholic Church? That is their problem,” she said.
“I have been praying to God to make him succeed in his plans that are good for the people like to put an end to drugs, but not by killing them, and bring down corruption… But with regards to the Catholic Church, the Church is strong enough.”