On All Saints' Day, Nov. 1, the president said, apparently joking, the Christians should display his picture on Church altars instead of depictions of "drunkard" saints.
"Who are those stupid saints? They're just drunkards," Duterte said, according to The Philippine Star.
"Just stay with me. I'll give you one patron saint so you can stop searching for one. Get hold of a picture of mine and put it on the altar - Santo Rodrigo," he said.
In August, Duterte called the Church a "hypocritical institution" and before asking at a meeting of business leaders ""Is there any bishop here? I want to kick your a**." In June, the president said that God is "stupid," and a "son of a b-tch." The president's spokespersons have frequently mentioned that the context for his statements is the abuse he apparently suffered while a student at a Catholic school.
Duterte has said he was molested by Fr. Mark Falvey, SJ, who has been accused posthumously of serially sexually abusing children. In May 2007, the California province of the Society of Jesus reached a $16 million settlement with at least some of his victims.
Duterte, who is accused of human rights abuses amid a brutal crackdown on drug trafficking in the Philippines, ordered this year that Sr. Patricia Fox, a long time activist in the country, be deported, in response to her criticisms of government tactics. After a legal battle, Fox returned to her native Australia, but says she will appeal her immigration case in the Philippines.
