Catholic World News

Filipino bishops condemn extra-judicial killings as death-squad violence mounts

September 16, 2016

The Catholic bishops of the Philippines have issued a strong statement condemning the extra-judicial killings of drug addicts and dealers as "sins that harm the dignity of the human person."

About 3,500 people, including 1,400 suspected drug traffickers, have been killed in the Philippines in the past ten weeks. The newly installed President Rodrigo Duterte has been accused of encouraging the vigilante violence-- although Duterte has denied ordering the killings.

Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, the president of the Filipino bishops' conference, said that the death-squad killings cannot be justified because "human dignity must always be protected, and the nobility of every human person continues to shine despite the scars of crime and sin." He added that drug addicts "are sick brethren in need of healing."

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