Rodrigo Duterte Plans to visit Vatican City
Presumptive president Rodrigo Duterte plans to visit Vatican City and apologized to Catholic’s highest leader Pope Francis. This was according to his spokesperson Peter Laviña.
On Tuesday, Laviña told the reporters and ABS-CBN News that former Davao City Mayor is planning a state visit to Japan, China, United States, and Vatican. He also said that he will visit the Vatican to “apologize and pray.”
It can be remembered that Duterte made headlines after cursing at Pope Francis in November last year. But in January, he received a letter from Vatican City, responding to his apology.
The letter was wrote by top official for church internal affairs Angelo Becciu. He wrote it in behalf of Pope Francis.
According to Laviña he will visit Japan, China, and United States to strengthen ties with “trading and economic partners.”
Duterte earlier expressed also his openness to cooperate with China regarding the issue on Sparatly Islands.
Meanwhile, Duterte is still the leading presidential candidate as of Tuesday afternoon. His opponents, Grace Poe, Mar Roxas and Jejomar Binay has already conceded
Duterte has already breached the 15-million mark, according to partial unofficial tallies by Commission on Election (comelec).
If proclaimed as the president, Duterte will be the first country’s highest official from Mindanao.
He has been a Mayor of Davao City for 7 terms with a total of 22 years. He declared his candidacy in November 2015 for the office of the President of the Philippines. He was among the most controversial presidential candidates.