MANILA, Sept. 6, 2013–The head of Manila’s Roman Catholic Church is asking the Congress to reconsider and heed the Church and public’s clamor to abolish the pork barrel.
Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said the bishops’ moral judgment on the issue seeks to help create reforms in the government and for the common good.
In an unprecedented move, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines yesterday made a collective stand in calling for the abolition of the pork barrel system.
The church leaders, in a pastoral statement, believe that the present pork barrel practice in government “is fertile ground for graft and corruption.”
The cardinal stressed the role of the church is the “formation of conscience” and to guide the faithful in responding to the issue from the Christian moral perspective.
“We want to share our wisdom. We know that we are not experts in politics, in economy, but what we have is the social teachings of the Church. We hope they’ll listen to us,” Tagle said at Radio Veritas Friday.
In the wake of the alleged P10 billion pork barrel scam, the bishops’ collegial body also called on the people to atone for graft and corruption.
The bishops urged the faithful to make September 7 as a day of atonement for these “sins against peace” in the country.
“Stealing destroys peace. Lying harms our peace. Government corruption is an act of terrorism against our poor and our children,” they said. (CBCPNews)