Political Influence
The Catholic Church has great influence on Philippine society and politics. One typical event is the role of the Catholic hierarchy during the bloodless People Power Revolution of 1986. Then Archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin called on the public to march along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and force dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos to step down which occurred after seven million people responded.
In 2001, Cardinal Sin expressed his dismay over the allegations of corruption against Philippine president Joseph Estrada. His call sparked the second EDSA Revolution dubbed as "EDSA Dos". Estrada resigned after 5 continuous days of protest.
On the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared three days of national mourning. She attended the Pope's funeral in the Vatican.
Recent political turmoil in the Philippines widened the rift between the state and the Church. Arroyo's press secretary Ignacio Bunye called the bishops and priests who attended an anti-Arroyo protest as hypocrites and 'people who hide their true plans'.
The church strongly opposes the Reproductive Health Bill, which was commonly known as RH Bill. It led to the division of opinion of the country's populace since 80% of the population are Catholics.
Read more about this topic: Roman Catholic Church In The Philippines
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or influence:
“What drivel it all is!... A string of words called religion. Another string of words called philosophy. Half a dozen other strings called political ideals. And all the words either ambiguous or meaningless. And people getting so excited about them they’ll murder their neighbours for using a word they don’t happen to like. A word that probably doesn’t mean as much as a good belch. Just a noise without even the excuse of gas on the stomach.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“The higher the state of civilization, the more completely do the actions of one member of the social body influence all the rest, and the less possible is it for any one man to do a wrong thing without interfering, more or less, with the freedom of all his fellow-citizens.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)