"A fact," the bishops helpfully explain, "is anything that is or that happens."
"If one man kills another, it cannot but be a fact that the deed was done, and any 'alternative fact' that would have it so that no killing was done is simply false, and, when meant to deceive, a lie!"
The bishops lamented that there are those "who have given themselves to the service of reporting what never happened, concealing what really happened, and distorting what should be presented in a straightforward manner."
They also observed that social media "has become the unfortunate site of 'alternative facts' and 'fake news'. Not only does this offend against the orientation of the human intellect to the truth. It is, more fundamentally, a sin against charity because it hinders persons from making right and sound decisions and induces them, instead, to make faulty ones!"
The letter, issued by Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, president of the Filipino bishops' conference, includes four obligations for Catholics regarding the truth.
"Catholic faith obliges us to: 1. To refrain from patronizing, popularizing and supporting identified sources of 'alternative facts' or 'fake news,'" they said, referencing a phrase from a media faux pas made by Kellyanne Conway, counselor to U.S. President Donald Trump, earlier this year.