There was, apparently, no love lost between President Rodrigo Duterte and the Catholic Church.
Even during his campaign, the President minced no words lambasting the church for the sexual molestation he allegedly suffered from a priest when he was in high school.
Almost two years into his six-year term, the President continues with his attacks. Below are excerpts, edited for brevity.
鈥淪o God was lonely, so he created paradise and that鈥檚 planet Earth. And God said, 鈥業 will create man,鈥� so there was Adam. God found that Adam was lonely, so he took one of his ribs and created woman. But God doubted his creation so he tested it. He called a snake and told it to give an apple to Eve.聽 Eve ate it and gave it to Adam. And so malice was born.
鈥淲ho is this stupid God?聽 You created something perfect and then you think of an event that would destroy the quality of your work. How can you rationalize that God? How can you believe him? So now we鈥檙e all born with an original sin. Even in the womb, we already have sin. What kind of religion is that?鈥�
鈥擩une 22, 2018, opening of the 2018 National ICT Summit in Davao City
鈥淎nd I assure you, you can walk around at night and nobody would really bother you. (I will target) drugs, I said, after corruption. I鈥檓 a simple man. I have run roughshod against almost everybody鈥攑riests, human rights (activists). I don鈥檛 give a shit. Those priests and bishops, they didn鈥檛 elect me to office. Those (idiots), they鈥檙e with the other side.鈥�
鈥擩une 14, 2018, Oathtaking of newly elected barangay officials of Region 4A, Sta. Rosa City, Laguna
Baloney!
鈥淪o don鈥檛 believe those Catholics, or Adam and Eve. The god of the Catholics, He鈥檚 an idiot. Look for a better God. Look, it says in catechism that God created the world. It was a paradise. Then he made man, Adam, and he was lonely so God created woman.聽 It would have been fine but God called the snake and gave it an apple, asked it to give it to Eve. Then Eve tempted Adam to eat the apple and malice became malice. We all sinned.聽 We are all born sinners, son of a whore.聽 What did we have to do with Adam and Eve who were the ones who did the deed? What kind of God was that? Things were perfect then he decides to ruin them. So don鈥檛 believe those priests. During my campaign, I felt like peeing, but son of a whore, it took three hours from Robinsons to the airport.聽 I was late. So I said, son of a whore, Pope, you better leave now. I cursed him. Why did he come and cause such a traffic jam? So the God of the Catholics? Baloney! We have a new religion when we get out of here: the church of Rodrigo聽 (applause). No limit.聽 You have an obligation to make yourself happy. (applause)鈥�
鈥擩une 3, 2018, Meeting with the Filipino community in South Korea, Grand Hilton Hotel and Convention Center, Seoul
鈥淚t angers me. I was mayor for 23 years and people would come to me crying, saying, 鈥榃e have to bury our dead, but the church refused to open its doors. The priest got angry because it鈥檚 a Sunday. The corpse smells really bad now.鈥� I said, son of a whore, take the corpse out from the coffin and throw it there by the altar鈥�
鈥淎nd why are you blaming me? Your parish priest married an NPA [New People鈥檚 Army] member in Cordillera. So the NPAs were not the ones who killed him. In fact, the NPAs protested his death. But if you have an adulterous relationship with the wife of a soldier, a police, or a vice mayor, then you will really die. So that鈥檚 why you should change your religion. A new religion has been founded. Our patron is St. Rodrigo.鈥�
鈥擬ay 20, 2018, Annual town fiesta, Tabogon, Cebu
Are tomboys normal?
鈥淎re you normal? Yes. Are tomboys abnormal? No, of course, not. Why? Because we are all creations of God (applause). It was God who made a mistake.鈥�
鈥擠ec. 7, 2017, 7th LGBT Davao鈥檚 year-end gathering, Azuela Cove, Davao City
鈥淵ou know if you are God, you are perfect. There ought not to be imperfections. Your creation must be good. Why create a snake? Better give that to China, which might cook it tomorrow (laughter).鈥�
鈥擭ov. 28, 2017, Birthday celebration of Atty. Alfredo Lim in Dasmari帽as, Cavite
鈥淚t鈥檚 not our fault. It鈥檚 the fault of God. Why did he have to create woman. If we were all men, we鈥檇 just have a free-for-all.鈥�
鈥擭ov. 23, 2017, Birthday celebration of Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco, Malago Clubhouse, PSG Compound
鈥淚 once encountered some bishops, that son of a whore CBCP [Catholic Bishops鈥� Conference of the Philippines], and I said, you act so high and mighty. We鈥檙e just the same. You have so many women.聽 So if you want to go to hell, believe in those priests. It鈥檚 hot down there but all the beautiful women are there. Only the ugly ones go to heaven (laughter).鈥�
鈥擩uly 14, 2017, 11th Ambassadors鈥� tour Philippine reception, SMX Convention Center, Davao City
鈥淧riests do nothing but rant. They live in palaces. You should sell those and use the money to buy rice for the poor. And stop collecting money. If you don鈥檛, I will have you arrested for extortion 鈥� I do not need martial law. I do not need to declare a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. You destroy my country, you destroy the youth. I don鈥檛 give a shit if all the priests kneel and pray and beg. I have a country to preserve and that is the Filipino nation. It has nothing to do with religion.鈥�
鈥擬ay 2017, Groundbreaking ceremony for the third bridge that would connect Cebu Island and Mactan Island
鈥淚f you tell me you鈥檙e still Catholic tomorrow, I will be impressed with you. That religion will become pass茅 in the next 30 years.鈥�
鈥擬arch 30, 2017, Go Negosyo event, Malaca帽ang
鈥淚 challenge you now. I challenge the Catholic Church. You are full of shit. You all smell bad, corruption and all 鈥� (On the bishops鈥� Pajeros given by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo): Shouldn鈥檛 you be ashamed of yourselves? That鈥檚 so expensive and so many people have nothing to eat.聽 Son of a whore, you accepted it. That was pure graft and corruption.鈥�
鈥擩an. 24, 2017, Speech before a meeting with families of slain Special Action Force commandos, Malaca帽ang
(Speaking of priests from his childhood): 鈥淲hen we were young, we were making confessions to you, we were being molested 鈥� What is your moral ascendancy? 鈥� You are not聽 helping. You just keep on talking.鈥�
鈥擩an. 19, 2017, Oathtaking of PNP officials, Malaca帽ang
(Alleging that the Catholic Church never helped in solving the drug problem): 鈥淵ou鈥檙e only good in collection.鈥�
鈥擠ec. 27, 2016, Davao City
(On the death penalty): 鈥淓very President along the way didn鈥檛 impose it only because the Catholic Church and all the bleeding hearts would say that only God can kill. But what if there is no God?鈥�
鈥擲ept. 26, 2016, Oathtaking ceremony of Malaca帽ang Press Corps officials
鈥淲hen you fondle us when we were young (and) holding confession while holding our prick and asking us what are our sins, and while you鈥檙e fondling us while we are pouring out our sins, then you pretend to be the righteous institutions of this society, and now you criticize [others])? 鈥� The priest (who raped me) is in hell a long time ago, he paid P25 million to all the parties, and you still insist on hypocrisy? 鈥� I can sit the whole six years of the presidency exposing you and attacking you.鈥�
鈥擩une 2, 2016, press conference at the presidential guesthouse, Davao City
鈥淚f I start (naming) the bishops who got married and have women in their lives, the Catholic Church will explode. (Referring to bishops who received SUVs from the Arroyo administration): People have no food, no medicine, while you鈥檙e enjoying the money of the goddamn people of the Philippines. Aren鈥檛 you ashamed of yourself?鈥�
鈥擬ay 22, 2016, late-night news conference, Davao City
(Duterte names the late Fr. Paul Falvey, S.J., one of the Jesuit priests at Ateneo de Davao University as the priest who took his and other boys鈥� innocence during high school):聽 鈥淚t happened during our generation, two years ahead of us and two years following us 鈥� It cost him some P25 million because other victims filed a case, it was a case of fondling during confession, that鈥檚 how we lost our innocence early 鈥� It was a sort of sexual awakening for each of us. We realized quite early that life was like that. How can we complain? We were afraid.鈥�
鈥擠ec. 3, 2015, Davao City
鈥淪o I said, why is the road closed? Who鈥檚 coming and they said the Pope. I wanted to tell him, 鈥楶ope, you son of a whore, go home. Don鈥檛 visit us anymore.鈥�
鈥擭ov. 30, 2015, Proclamation as PDP-Laban鈥檚 standard-bearer 鈥擨NQUIRER RESEARCH
Sources: Inquirer.net, Inquirer Archives, PCOO website