A Catholic Country?

Last updated on: December 22, 2018 at 2:27 pm by Chase Padusniak

A Catholic Country? 2018-12-22T14:27:26-04:00 Chase Padusniak

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Christ Pantocrator from an Orthodox Church in Miskolc, Hungary (1760-1770). Wikimedia.

I don’t mean to invoke the United States in my title—as much as many people think that it is a Christian nation (which, at any rate, isn’t the same thing as a “Catholic Country”). In fact, I only began wondering what such a thing was when I saw a question asked in some Catholic Facebook group: “which country do you think is the most Catholic?” Several answers came up more than once: Poland, Malta, the Philippines, etc. The last of these probably came up the most.

This, unfortunately, reveals quite a bit about how we think, and how “Un-Catholic” we can be. What exactly does it demonstrate? Quite a lot—it seems to suggest that we have reduced Catholicism to two or three teachings (largely centered around sexual morality), leaving the Faith un-moored from its broader aims—theological and social.

So why did people “vote for” the Philippines? Most people mentioned three things: abortion is illegal, same-sex marriage is illegal, and divorce is illegal. These, of course, represents primary concerns of the American Pro-Life Movement (and, of course, most of the commenting in the FB group I mentioned above were from the US). But at what cost? It seems to me that “holding up” the Philippines in this way betrays a certain problem in the way such people have constructed the world—the sort of ideological character they have.

The current Filipino president has been, to put it mildly, critical of the Church, which has itself criticized him for several policy decisions. More generally, his remarks have been met with opprobrium from both Catholics and the media in the broader world:

The Philippines is an overwhelmingly Catholic country, with about 90 percent of the population identifying as Catholics.

But that hasn’t stopped President Rodrigo Duterte from repeatedly taking aim at the Catholic Church. On Wednesday, local news reports quoted Duterte — who is known for his incendiary remarks — as saying: “These bishops that you guys have, kill them. They are useless fools. All they do is criticize.”

The Catholic Church has emerged as a vocal critic of Duterte’s war on drugs, which has resulted in thousands of deaths since 2016. And in the past year, three Catholic priests have been killed in the Philippines.

Duterte has previously used a crude term to describe Pope Francis, and he angered Catholics in the Philippines this summer when he called God “stupid” in a televised address. He also pushed back on the concept of “original sin,” saying: “What kind of religion is that? I can’t accept it.”

Earlier this year, after a Catholic priest was killed, Catholic leaders in the Philippines released a statement urging Duterte “to stop the verbal persecution of the Catholic Church because such attacks can wittingly embolden more crimes against priests.”

On Thursday, his office excused his comments about killing bishops as “hyperbole.”

“We should be getting used to this president. He makes certain statements for dramatic effect,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo later told reporters, according to the Philippine news site Rappler. “The president, just like any ordinary human being, is upset when the good things that he does for this country are not even appreciated by people who are supposed to support it, like the church.”

But many see the president’s comments as regularly crossing the line from jokey to offensive. In August, he said that “as long as there are many beautiful women, there will be more rape cases.” (The Washington Post)

Its current president aside, the country has a massive sex trafficking problem (see here and here for more information—one of these is even from a Catholic website!). And then there is the nation’s war on drugs, one that makes the US’s look like nothing (which now both President Trump and Congressional Democrats agree has gone too far). Its criminal justice system is also, to put mildly, somewhat corrupt. And then there’s the extreme poverty.

Politics

Catholic Social Teaching

Previous Post

August 7, 2018

Being Byzantine (Catholic)

Next Post

December 23, 2018 Jubilees

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Academia Culture Politics Reviews Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 December 2020 November 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 August 2019 July 2019 April 2019 March 2019 December 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was called by God from a burning bush to lead Israel out of Egypt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joseph Aaron Joshua Moses