Davao, Philippines, Jul 9, 2018 / 16:17 pm
The Filipino bishops conference has called for three days of prayer and fasting, about a month after President Rodrigo Duterte called God "stupid," among other things. After the initial series of comments, the country's bishops' conference met with Duterte to attempt to ease tensions.
Duterte's remarks were met with outrage by the majority-Catholic country.
Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) wrote in a pastoral exhortation asking Filipinos to make July 16 "a day of prayer and penance" asking God for mercy and justice for "those who have blasphemed God's Holy Name, those who slander and bear false witness, and those who commit murder or justify murder as a means for fighting criminality in our country."
The bishops requested that the next three days, from July 17 - 19, be days of "fasting, praying, and almsgiving."