The highest leader of Catholic church Pope Francis has accepted the apology letter which was sent by Davao City Mayor and most popular presidential candidate on social media, Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte. The letter was sent to Vatican City in January.
The letter, dated February 24, 2016, was penned by Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, the top official for church iternal affairs at the Vatican. Becciu responded in behalf of Pope Francis, who received the letter in January 21, 2016.
The letter reads: “His Holiness Pope Francis has received your letter of 21 January 2016 and has asked me to respond on his behalf. He appreciates the sentiments you have expressed. The Holy Father offers the assurance of prayers for you, as he invokes upon you the divine blessings of wisdom and peace.”
The PDP-Laban standard-bearer was only informed about the letter while he was campaigning in Bohol on Sunday April 3, 2016. In his previous interview, he said that he don’t want to release the copy as he doesn’t want to use it for his campaign.
Despite this, the members of media were able to get the copy after Rody Duterte’s long-time aide Christopher Bong Go posted the letter on his Facebook page.
Rody Duterte was criticized in November after he “swear” at Pope on the public during his proclamation rally. He immediately apologized to the people and to parish priests, saying that the cursing was directly for the problems, especially traffic incidents caused by the mishandling of government officials during the Papal visit in January last year.
The mayor also expressed his hopes to visit Vatican City to personally apologized to Pope Francis. He also vowed to give P1,000 to church for every cursed word he would say.
Read the letter below:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=511561809050855&set=a.131308807076159.1073741828.100005911204879&type=3&theater