Tagle slams normalization of killing in government’s drug war
by Marc dela Paz
One of the influential leaders of the Catholic church in the country urged government officials to stop the extrajudicial killings as part of its campaign against illegal drugs.
“We cannot allow the destruction of lives to become normal,” Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said on his pastoral letter released on Friday, Sept. 8
Tagle denounced the extrajudicial killings as “inhuman and un-Christian an act willfully intended and planned to inflict harm or death on a human person.”
“We call on those who harm or kill others to listen to their conscience, the voice of God that summons us to do good and avoid evil,” Tagle added.
He also explained that only by looking into oneself and inclining to do good can the violence in the country stop.
“Heartless violence can be conquered only by a change of heart and by discovering in the depths of our being the inclination to do good and to love our neighbor.”
The archbishop also urged everyone to intensify solidarity to the victims and extend empathy and spiritual support to their families.
“If there are cases of killings in your parish community, I ask our pastors and lay leaders to take time to go to the wake in order to bless the departed and to be on with the grieving families in sorrow and in hope.” he said.
Tagle encouraged parishes in the archdiocese to ring their church bells for five minutes at 8 pm starting on Sept. 14 during Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. This is an act of giving respect to all the victims of extrajudicial killings in the country.
“The tolling of church bells in the evening to pray for the dead is an old Filipino custom that has almost disappeared. Now is the right time to revive it.”
