Vatican ‘foreign minister’: Listen to Philippine bishops on divorce
July 02, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, has begun a five-day visit to the Philippines.
Asked at a press conference about legislation that would permit divorce—legislation that a number of bishops have opposed—he said that “the teaching of the Catholic Church with regard to marriage is very clear and very well known.”
“At the pastoral level, the question is within the competence of the bishops’ conference of the Philippines and the individual bishops,” he continued. “We, as the Holy See, would obviously encourage Filipino Catholics, particularly their political leaders, to listen to their pastors and to try and offer whatever is the best approach to this. But it is essentially a matter for the bishops.”
The nation of 116 million is 91% Christian (69% Catholic) and 6% Muslim. The Philippines ranks third in the world, after Brazil and Mexico, in Catholic population.
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