Earlier today (December 29) the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President the Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan Socrates B. Villegas issued an statement regarding the release of the t-shirts of ABS-CBN in connection with the campaign for the Papal Visit on January 15 to 19. Villegas in his statement discourages the Catholics not to support the t-shirts because according to him it doesn’t promote the values of the Papal Visit. Here is the statement of CBCP:
BEWARE!
The CBCP has been apprised of shirts now vended apparently in preparation for the Pope’s visit. While the words in the shirt attempt to convey the openness of the Holy Father, the phrases “NO RACE NO RELIGION” are definitely misleading and quite frankly erroneous.
Pope Francis is aware of the fact that he heads an organized religion with a vast membership throughout the world. He is also as aware that race forms part of the identity of individuals and of peoples.
He has never said and taught that religion and race do not matter, because they most certainly do. It is what selfish, uncharitable and judgemental people do with religion and race that is a problem.
We urge our Catholic faithful NOT to patronize items with misleading posts and statements.
Meanwhile, ABS-CBN issued statement regarding CBCP’s message earlier. The statement was given by ABS-CBN Spokesman Bong Osorio.
ABS-CBN assures the public that there was no intent to deceive or mislead the public through the commemorative shirts that carry statements inspired by Pope Francis’ message of love, openness, and humility.
We apologize if a particular statement shirt offended anyone. We are pulling out the item from our online shop and all retail partner stores.
The t-shirts hat CBCP mentioned were posted above. In your opinion does it really violates the values of the Church or Pope Francis that became an instant favorite of the people next to Pope John Paul II that shows compassion with an open arms to all?
