President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday denounced bishops in the Catholic-majority country as "sons of bitches", renewing his attacks on the church that has criticized him over his bloody war on drugs.
Duterte, who launched his campaign against drugs when he took office in mid-2016, remains hugely popular but doubts about the campaign, in which thousands of people have been killed, have been growing."Only I can say bishops are sons of bitches, damn you. That is true," Duterte said in a speech during a groundbreaking ceremony for a school north of the capital, Manila.
Duterte did not mention any particular reason for his criticism of the church on Thursday, which included a suggestion that most bishops are homosexual.
"Most of them are gay," he said. "They should come out in the open, cancel celibacy and allow them to have boyfriends."