Pope signs Jerusalem declaration on Morocco trip

Yahoo – AFP, Sophie Pons and Catherine Marciano, March 30, 2019

Pope Francis is the first pontiff to visit Morocco since John Paul II in
1985 (AFP Photo/CIRO FUSCO)

Rabat (AFP) - Pope Francis on Saturday joined Morocco's King Mohammed VI in saying Jerusalem should be a "symbol of peaceful coexistence" for Christians, Jews and Muslims, on the first day of a visit to the North African country.

The spiritual leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics was invited by King Mohammed VI for the sake of "interreligious dialogue", according to Moroccan authorities.

In a joint statement, the two leaders said Jerusalem was "common patrimony of humanity and especially the followers of the three monotheistic religions."

"The specific multi-religious character, the spiritual dimension and the particular cultural identity of Jerusalem... must be protected and promoted," they said in the declaration released by the Vatican as the pontiff visited Rabat.

The Moroccan king chairs a committee created by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to safeguard and restore Jerusalem's religious, cultural and architectural heritage.

The joint statement came after US President Donald Trump's landmark recognition of the disputed city as capital of Israel, which sparked anger across the Muslim world, especially from Palestinians who see Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Improving relations with other religions has been a priority for the Argentine pontiff, whose papacy has been marred by clergy facing a wave of child sex abuse allegations.

Thousands of Moroccans greeted Pope Francis in the capital Rabat 

(AFP Photo/Alberto PIZZOLI)

Opposing extremism

Addressing thousands of Moroccans who had braved the rain to attend the welcome ceremony, Francis said it was "essential to oppose fanaticism".

He stressed the need for "appropriate preparation of future religious guides", ahead of meeting trainee imams later on Saturday.

Catholics are a tiny minority Morocco, where 99 percent of the population is Muslim. The king is revered across West Africa as "commander of the faithful".

Speaking at the ceremony at the Tour (or tower) Hassan mosque and nearby mausoleum in Rabat, the monarch also voiced opposition to radicalism.

"That which terrorists have in common is not religion, it's precisely the ignorance of religion. It's time that religion is no longer an alibi... for this ignorance, for this intolerance," he said.

Francis rode to the ceremony in his Popemobile, passing rows of Moroccan and Vatican City flags and an estimated 12,000 well-wishers who packed the esplanade.

Buildings had been repainted, lawns manicured and security stepped up ahead of the first papal visit to Morocco since John Paul II in 1985.

A 17-year-old was arrested after trying to throw himself onto the king's limousine to seek the monarch's help, the police said.

Pope Francis (L) was welcomed to Rabat by Morocco's King 

Mohammed VI (AFP Photo/Fadel SENNA)

Some 130,000 people across Rabat watched the first stage of the pope's visit, which was beamed onto giant screens, officials said.

'Right to a future'

After stopping by the royal palace, Francis and Mohammed visited an institute where around 1,300 students are studying to become imams and preachers.

There they heard from a French and a Nigerian student of the institute, which teaches "moderate Islam" and is backed by the king.

In Morocco, where Islam is the state religion, authorities are keen to stress the country's "religious tolerance" which allows Christians and Jews to worship freely.

But Moroccans are automatically considered Muslim, apart from a minority who are born Jewish. Apostasy is socially frowned upon, and proselytising is a criminal offence.

Those who try to "rock the faith of a Muslim or to convert him to another religion" risk a prison term of up to three years.

After years in the shadows, since 2017 the small number of converts have called openly for the right to live "without persecution" and "without discrimination".

The pope finished his Saturday schedule by meeting migrants (AFP Photo/
Alberto PIZZOLI)

Around 30,000 to 35,000 Catholics live in Morocco, many of them from sub-Saharan Africa.

The pope finished his Saturday schedule by meeting migrants -- including children dressed in colourful hats -- at a centre run by Catholic humanitarian organisation Caritas.

"Everyone has the right to a future," said Francis, who has throughout his papacy highlighted the plight of migrants and refugees.

He criticised "collective expulsions" and said ways for migrants to regularise their status should be encouraged.

Caritas centres in Rabat, Casablanca and Tangiers welcomed 7,551 new arrivals in 2017, according to the charity, helping migrants access services.

The number of people taking the sea route from Morocco to Spain has recently surged as it has become harder for them to pass through Libya.

Rabat claims to have a "humanistic" approach to migration and rejects allegations by rights groups of "brutal arrest campaigns" and "forced displacement" to the country's southern border.

On Sunday, the pope will celebrate mass at a Rabat stadium with an estimated 10,000 people attending.

Related Article:

Pope Francis issues sweeping sex abuse legislation

Twin bomb attacks on Philippine church kills at least 18

Yahoo – AFP, Nickee Butlangan, January 27, 2019

It is one of the deadliest bomb attacks to strike the southern Philippines in 

years (AFP Photo/NICKEE BUTLANGAN)

Jolo (Philippines) (AFP) - At least 18 people were killed Sunday when a double bomb attack hit a Catholic church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, the military said, days after voters backed expanded Muslim self-rule in the region.

In an attack claimed by the Islamic State group, a powerful first blast shattered pews, broke windows and left bodies strewn inside the cathedral in the Catholic-majority nation's restive south as mass was being celebrated.

Moments later a second explosion outside killed troops who were rushing to help the wounded in the smoking and heavily damaged church on Jolo, which is overwhelmingly Muslim.

It is one of the deadliest bomb attacks to strike the insurgency-plagued southern Philippines in years, and shows militants in the region are still a threat despite recent steps toward peace, experts said.

The bloodshed came less than a week after voters' decisive approval of giving Muslims in the south more control over their own affairs, which sparked hopes of quelling long-time separatist violence.

Manila swiftly vowed to hunt down the attackers, but no group has claimed the 

bombing (AFP Photo/NICKEE BUTLANGAN)

"Just because the (referendum) has passed does not mean that things are going to get better overnight," said Gregory Wyatt, director for business intelligence at PSA Philippines Consultancy.

"There are still militant groups that will continue to be active and pose a security threat," he told AFP.

Pope Francis, speaking in Panama, expressed his "strongest reprobation" for the violence. Once again, he said, "the Christian community has been plunged into mourning."

Bishop Angelito Lampon, who previously served in Jolo, said Sunday's attack may be the worst, but was certainly not the first on the church.

"In my 20 years there from 1998 to last week, there were seven hand grenades lobbed into our cathedral," he told AFP. "Fortunately there was just a little damage and no casualties."

IS group claim

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, issuing a formal communique saying two suicide bombers had detonated explosive belts, according to the SITE Intelligence Group which monitors jihadist activities.

But a military report said the second bomb was left in the utility box of a motorcycle in the parking area outside the church.

Authorities said the notorious Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group could be

behind the blasts (AFP Photo/NICKEE BUTLANGAN)

Manila swiftly vowed to hunt down the attackers.

"We will pursue to the ends of the earth the ruthless perpetrators behind this dastardly crime," presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement. "The law will give them no mercy."

Five soldiers, a member of the coast guard and 12 civilians were among the dead while 83 other people were wounded, said regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gerry Besana.

The regional police chief Graciano Mijares put the toll slightly higher at 20 dead, lower than a figure of 27 he gave initially.

Pro-IS militants are among multiple armed networks based in the strife-torn region of Mindanao.

President Rodrigo Duterte put the southern Philippines under martial rule after pro-IS militants seized the southern city of Marawi in May 2017.

A bombing the previous year that ripped through a bustling night market in Duterte's hometown left 15 dead, and was blamed on the Maute gang of Islamist militants that pledged allegiance to IS.

The door, pews and glass windows of Mount Carmel Cathedral were blown off, 

military photos showed (AFP Photo/HANDOUT)

Before the IS jihadists' claim emerged, Besana said the notorious Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group could be behind the blasts, but added officials were "not discounting the possibility that there are other perpetrators".

The remote island of Jolo is a base of the Abu Sayyaf, which is blamed for deadly bombings, including an attack on a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 that claimed 116 lives in the country's deadliest terror assault.

'Peace must prevail'

Neither the hardline factions aligned with IS nor the Abu Sayyaf were part of the decades-long peace process with the nation's largest separatist group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, that culminated January 21 with the resounding approval of a new Muslim led-region in the south.

Rebels and the government in Manila hope the new so-called Bangsamoro area will finally draw the investment needed to pull the region from the brutal poverty that makes it a hotspot for radical recruitment.

Despite Sulu province -- which includes Jolo -- voting against creating the new region, the area will still be part of the Bangsamoro.

The timing of Sunday's bombs raised questions on whether the attack was meant to derail the peace process.

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon said "extremist criminals" plotted the bombings.

"We will not allow them to spoil the preference of the people for peace," Esperon said. "Peace must prevail over war."

Death penalty 'inadmissible' in Catholic teaching update

Yahoo – AFP, 2 August 2018

Francis has long opposed capital punishment, saying in June 2016 that "it doesn't
give justice to victims, but it feeds vengeance" and arguing that the biblical
commandment "thou shall not kill" applies equally to the innocent and the guilty

Pope Francis has declared the death penalty "inadmissible" in an update of Catholic believers' most important guide to Church teaching, the catechism, the Vatican said Thursday.

"The Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that 'the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person'," the new text states.

Francis approved the change to the catechism, which covers a wide range of moral and social issues, during a meeting in May with the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Church's doctrinal watchdog.

The update also says the Church will "work with determination" for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide.

"Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good," the new text says.

"Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes."

The Catholic Church has steadily hardened its opposition to capital punishment in recent decades, with Francis's calls for its abolition echoing similar pleas from his predecessors Benedict XVI and John Paul II.

The 1992 text of the catechism says authorities should take appropriate measures in the interest of the common good without excluding the use of the death penalty in extremely grave cases.

More than two-thirds of the world's countrys have abolished or suspended judicial 

killings. The United States is the most developed country where it is still used. Shown 

here in a Texas museum is "Old Sparky", the electric chair discontinued in 1965

'Inhuman remedy'

More recent updates said factors justifying capital punishment have become rare if not practically inexistent.

Francis has long opposed the death penalty, saying that the execution of a human being is fundamentally against the teachings of Christ because, by definition, it excludes the possibility of redemption.

Speaking in October last year, he acknowledged that the Vatican itself had historically had "recourse to the extreme and inhuman remedy" of judicial execution, but said past doctrinal errors should be put aside.

"It doesn't give justice to victims, but it feeds vengeance," he said in June 2016, arguing that the biblical commandment "thou shall not kill" applies to the innocent as well as the guilty.

Francis has also called for an "international consensus" on the abolition of capital punishment.

"Modern society has the ability to punish crimes effectively without definitively taking away the possibility of redemption for those who commit them," he said.

More than two-thirds of the world's countries -- including most predominantly Catholic countries -- have abolished or suspended judicial killings.

Francis has long opposed capital punishment, saying in June 2016 that "it doesn't give justice to victims, but it feeds vengeance" and arguing that the biblical commandment "thou shall not kill" applies equally to the innocent and the guilty

More than two-thirds of the world's countrys have abolished or suspended judicial killings. The United States is the most developed country where it is still used. Shown here in a Texas museum is "Old Sparky", the electric chair discontinued in 1965.

'I'll come back': Australian nun defiant over Philippine expulsion

Yahoo – AFP, Cecil MORELLA, 1 May 2018

Australian nun Patricia Fox, who faces deportation, prays in a mini-chapel at
her residence in Manila

She spent decades helping the Philippines' poorest people, but Australian nun Patricia Fox is fighting deportation after drawing President Rodrigo Duterte's ire -- and says she will try to return even if expelled.

The 71-year-old Melbourne native is due to be kicked out of the country by May 25 after Duterte personally accused her of political activism that violates the rules of her visa.

Fox was singled out as Manila cracks down on foreign critics on its soil, where the president's deadly anti-drug war has provoked a storm of international condemnation.

The government deportation order against her sparked outrage from rights advocates and the religious community, but authorities are pressing ahead.

"I'm still hoping that somehow something will happen (to stop the expulsion)," she told AFP in Manila.

Even if her appeal fails, Fox said she would still like to return and resume her work in the nation that has been home since 1990.

"If I can come back as a tourist I'll try and come back," she said. "This is my life."

She landed in the Philippines as a member of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, a congregation of nuns founded in France in 1847 and famed for harbouring Jews fleeing from Nazi persecution in World War II.

A former practising lawyer who worked with indigent clients in Australia, Fox said she has been educating landless Filipino farm hands and factory workers about their rights.

Then on April 16 immigration service agents arrived at the congregation's modest Manila office.

Australian nun Patricia Fox was escorted by immigration officers after leaving
a detention facility in April

'No right to criticise'

Fox, the country head of an eight-member missionary group, was hauled off to the government agency's headquarters, where she was informed of the allegations.

She said she spent the night on the floor of the immigration service building, lying on a borrowed blanket and getting little sleep.

The nun said she apparently angered the president by joining a fact-finding mission in April to investigate alleged abuses against farmers, including killings and evictions by soldiers fighting guerrillas in the southern Philippines.

In Duterte's hometown of Davao, Fox went to see farmers detained on charges of possessing explosives, and attended a press conference by workers who were fired after demanding better wages and conditions.

"I gave a solidarity statement saying the social teachings of the Catholic Church say you have the right to unionise, you have the right to just wages, you have the right to security of tenure," she said.

Fox said she thought she was safe in espousing a pet advocacy of the president.

Australian nun Patricia Fox, a former practicing lawyer, arrived in the

Philippines in 1990

Duterte vowed during the 2016 election campaign to end the common corporate practice of hiring workers on five-month contracts to avoid paying benefits enjoyed by permanent employees.

Yet hours after Fox's release, Duterte announced he had personally ordered her investigated as a warning to foreigners who criticise his government.

"Don't let that nun in because her mouth is one that knows no shame. You do not have that right to criticise us," he added. "You insult me."

Earlier in April Manila also deported Italian Giacomo Filibeck, deputy secretary general of the Party of European Socialists, who had condemned Duterte's anti-drug war.

Fox said she has been quiet on the narcotics crackdown, a sensitive point that usually draws a response from Duterte.

"Presidents can say what they like, but you know I've never met the president. I don't remember saying anything in public about him," the nun said.

"I don't know where his information is coming from."

Indonesian bishop resigns amid mistress, corruption allegations

Indonesian bishop Hubertus Leteng was accused of having a mistress and siphoning off more than 100,000 euros in church funds. Leteng has denied the allegations.

Deutsche Welle, 12 October 2017

Pope Francis on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Bishop Hubertus Leteng of Indonesia's Ruteng diocese, after the Vatican dispatched an investigator to look into allegations that he had had a mistress and skimmed over 100,000 euros ($118,000) from church funds.

The probe was triggered after dozens of priests resigned en masse to protest Leteng's conduct.

The 58-year-old Leteng has denied the allegations but did not offer any explanation about his premature retirement, almost 17 years before the usual retirement age for a bishop.

The Vatican also did not address the scandal or clarify why Leteng was retiring early. It named Sylvester San, a Bali-based Bishop of Denpasar, as a temporary replacement.

Leteng said the money was used to finance the education of poor youth, AP news agency reported, citing Ucanews, which reports on the Catholic Church in Asia. He termed allegations that he had a relationship with a woman "slanderous."

Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, is home to some 45 bishops and 4,900 Catholic priests, according to 2015 Vatican data.

ap/bk (AFP, AP)

Philippine church bells ring in drug war protest

Yahoo – AFP, September 14, 2017

Philippine police have reported killing more than 3,800 people to fulfil President
Rodrigo Duterte's vow to rid the country of narcotics (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Church bells rang across the mainly Catholic Philippines late Thursday as bishops rallied opposition to the "reign of terror" that has left thousands dead in President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war.

Police have reported killing more than 3,800 people to fulfil Duterte's vow to rid the country of narcotics, with the 15-month crackdown triggering wider violence that has seen thousands of other people found dead in unexplained circumstances.

An elderly church sexton tugged on a rope to ring a 171-year-old bell atop the San Roque cathedral, its slow, deep peals sweeping over the vast slums of northern Manila around the 211-year-old church.

"Many of the drug killings had taken place in this diocese," Ryan Rezo, another church employee, told AFP.

Church leaders said bells around the country would simultaneously ring for five minutes from 8:00 pm (1200 GMT) to honour the dead and remind the living that the bloodshed must stop. The ritual will continue for 40 nights.

"We cannot allow the destruction of lives to become normal. We cannot govern the nation by killing," Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said in a pastoral letter last week launching the campaign.

The president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, followed up this week with an even stronger pastoral letter.

'Reign of terror'

"For the sake of the children and the poor, stop their systematic murders and spreading reign of terror," Villegas wrote.

Duterte won last year's presidential elections on a brutal law-and-order platform in which he promised an unprecedented campaign to eradicate illegal drugs in society by killing up to 100,000 traffickers and addicts.

Duterte has made the drug war the top priority of his administration, and has regularly encouraged more bloodshed with comments such as describing himself as "happy to slaughter" three million addicts.

Nevertheless, the president and his aides reject allegations they are overseeing a crime against humanity.

They say police are killing only in self-defence, and the thousands of other unexplained murders could be due to drug gangs fighting each other.

Many Filipinos looking for quick solutions to crime continue to support Duterte, according to polls, and he enjoys majority backing in both houses of Congress.

But the Church has emerged as the leader of a growing opposition in recent months.

The killings of three teenagers, two of them at the hands of police in the northern Manila district of Caloocan on consecutive nights last month, sparked rare street protests against the crackdown.

Caloocan Bishop Pablo David said earlier Thursday he was giving refuge to two witnesses to the killing of one of the three slain boys.

"If you are a relative of a victim of extrajudicial killing or a witness to the extrajudicial killing of a particular victim, now is the time to come out," he told reporters.

Church officials say the tolling of bells for the dead originated from the Crusades, when Christian nations of Europe sent military expeditions to reclaim holy places in the Middle East.

The Catholic Church, to which eight in 10 Filipinos belong, has a history of influencing politics in the Philippines and helped lead the "People Power" revolution that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

Duterte has repeatedly praised Marcos as a "hero", and made speeches seeking to discredit the Church.

Philippine church bells to toll as Catholic bishops oppose President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war https://t.co/r7pCEije3y pic.twitter.com/9MED60B0eM

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 14, 2017

Philippine Church head urges end to drug killings

Yahoo – AFP, Ayee Macaraig, August 20, 2017

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has launched an unprecedented crackdown
on illegal narcotics since winning the presidency last year (AFP Photo/TED ALJIBE)

Manila (AFP) - The head of the Philippines' powerful Catholic Church called Sunday for an end to the "waste of human lives" following a brutal week in President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war in which a 17-year-old boy was among dozens killed.

Police raids dubbed "One Time Big Time" saw at least 76 people shot dead, authorities said, as rights groups and lawmakers condemned the operation as an alarming "killing spree" in Duterte's flagship campaign.

On Sunday, the highest-ranking Church official in the predominantly Catholic nation expressed concern about the increase in the number of deaths.

"We knock on the consciences of those who kill even the helpless, especially those who cover their faces with bonnets, to stop wasting human lives," Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle said in a statement read in Sunday Masses in the capital.

"The illegal drug problem should not be reduced to a political or criminal issue. It is a humanitarian concern that affects all of us."

Duterte, 72, launched an unprecedented crackdown on illegal narcotics after winning the presidency last year on a promise to kill tens of thousands of criminals.

The Church, one of the nation's oldest and most influential institutions, had been among the few voices denouncing the deaths as polls showed Duterte continued to enjoy widespread popularity.

During the 14 months Duterte has been in power, police have confirmed killing more than 3,500 people -- insisting they acted in self-defence.

More than 2,000 other people have been killed in drug-related crimes and thousands more murdered in unexplained circumstances, according to police data.

The numbers saw a sudden increase this week, with Duterte praising officers who shot dead 32 people in a single province as he urged for more.

Following Duterte's call, at least 44 people were killed in various cities, including a 17-year-old boy whose death on Thursday sparked a national furore.

Relatives of Kian Delos Santos released CCTV footage of the boy being dragged away by two officers as they questioned a police report that he shot at them first.

'Awaken consciences'

In Sunday's statement, Tagle called for nine days of prayer for people who have died in the drug war.

"Those with sorrowful hearts and awakened consciences may come to your pastors to tell your stories and we will document them for the wider society," he said.

The Catholic Church has been a central figure in some of the Philippines' most tumultuous political events, including the 1986 "People Power" revolution that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The Church had initially declined to criticise Duterte's drug war but as the death toll of mostly poor people mounted, it began last year a campaign to stop the killings.

Church groups have sheltered witnesses and provided financial and emotional support for families of those slain.

In response, Duterte had launched a broadside against priests and bishops whom he accused of "hypocrisy".

On Sunday, the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines joined Tagle in denouncing the deaths, calling on the faithful to ring church bells daily in solidarity with the victims.

"The sound of the bells is a wake-up call for a nation that no longer knows how to condole with the bereaved, that is cowardly to call out evil. The sound of the bells is a call to stop consenting to the killings!" Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in a statement.

Duterte's spokesman said Saturday the government would investigate the deaths but added the president would "vigorously pursue" his drug war.

The head of the Philippines' powerful Catholic Church urges end to president's unprecedented drug killings https://t.co/CF7qPtSCs1 pic.twitter.com/ssr5O9N9qX

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 20, 2017

Easter Celebrations Should Inspire Unity in Indonesia: Religious Affairs Minister

Jakarta Globe, Eko Prasetyo, April 14, 2017

Indonesian Catholics pray at Gua Maria ("Mary's Cave") in Sendang
Sriningsih in Yogyakarta on Thursday (13/04). (Antara Photo/
Aloysius Jarot Nugroho)

Jakarta. Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said Easter celebrations in Indonesia are perfect manifestations of the country's motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, or "unity in diversity."

Lukman said the theme for this year's official national celebration of Easter — to be hosted in Manado, North Sulawesi — "Torang Samua Ciptaan Tuhan," or "Everyone is God’s Creation," was chosen to reflect the values of the often-quoted motto.

"The founding fathers of this country clearly understood we're a pluralistic, diverse nation, that's why unity is something to be fought for," Lukman was quoted as saying on the Ministry of Religious Affairs website.

Shephard Supit, the chairman of the 2017 National Easter Celebration committee, said a series of ceremonies and events celebrating Easter will be held in Manado and Tondano from April 21-25.

More than 25,000 Christians are expected to attend, including foreign visitors.

North Sulawesi Governor Olly Donkokambey said the province is more than ready to host the Easter celebrations.

"It will be another honor for us. Last year we also hosted the National Christmas Celebration and the Maulid Nabi [Prophet Muhammad's birthday] Celebration," Olly said.

Philippine Church in 'show of force' against drug killings

Yahoo – AFP, Ayee Macaraig, February 18, 2017

More than 6,000 people have died in the seven months since President
Rodrigo Duterte ordered an unprecedented war on drugs, which has drawn
global criticism for alleged human rights abuses (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Manila (AFP) - Thousands of Catholic faithful gathered in the Philippine capital on Saturday for a "show of force" in the biggest rally yet to stop extrajudicial killings in President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war.

More than 6,000 people have died since Duterte took office seven months ago and ordered an unprecedented crime war that has drawn global criticism for alleged human rights abuses, but is popular with many in the mainly Catholic country.

Members of one of the nation's oldest and most powerful institutions chanted prayers and sang hymns as they marched to condemn a "spreading culture of violence".

"We have to stand up. Somehow this is already a show of force by the faithful that they don't like these extrajudicial killings," Manila bishop Broderick Pabillo told AFP before addressing the crowd.

"I am alarmed and angry at what's happening because this is something that is regressive. It does not show our humanity."

Duterte, 71, has attacked the Church as "the most hypocritical institution" for speaking out against a campaign that he says would save generations of Filipinos from the drug menace.

About eight in 10 Filipinos are Catholic, making the former Spanish colony of more than 100 million people Asia's bastion of Christianity.

The Church helped lead the revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and a 2001 uprising against then-president Joseph Estrada that saw him ousted over corruption charges.

Thousands of Catholics gather at a dawn rally in a "show of force" against alleged

 extrajudicial killings in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war in Manila on 

February 18, 2017 (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

It had initially declined to voice opposition publicly to Duterte's drug war but, as the death toll of mostly poor people mounted, it began late last year to call for the killings to end.

Saturday's event, called the "Walk for Life", gathered 20,000 people, according to the organisers. Manila police estimated the crowd at 10,000.

The rally also opposed Duterte's push to restore the death penalty, his top legislative priority as part of his crime war.

'Tears and fears'

"It is obvious that there is a spreading culture of violence. It is saddening to see, sometimes it drives me to tears how violent words seem so natural and ordinary," said Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle, the country's highest-ranking Church official.

"In your surroundings, in your neighbourhood, there are so many lives that must be saved. They will not be saved by mere discussion."

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines had called on the faithful to gather at the Quirino Grandstand, where Duterte held a huge pre-election rally, from 4:30am.

"Why dawn? It's because it is during these hours that we find bodies on the streets or near trash cans. Dawn, which is supposed to be the hour of a new start, is becoming an hour of tears and fears," Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the bishops' conference, told the crowd.

Villegas this month issued the Church's strongest statement against the drug war, warning against a "reign of terror" in poor communities.

Officers investigate the killing of two alleged robbers in a gun fight with police
in Manila (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Among those who attended Saturday's event was Senator Leila de Lima, a former human rights commissioner and one of Duterte's most vocal opponents.

The government on Friday filed charges against her for allegedly running a drug trafficking ring using criminals in the country's largest prison when she was justice secretary in the previous administration.

De Lima, who has repeatedly insisted the charges against her are trumped up to silence her and intimidate other Duterte critics, said she attended Saturday's event as a show of solidarity.

"For as long as I can, I will continue to fight. They cannot silence me," De Lima, who is expecting to be arrested in the coming days, told AFP.

Bone cancer survivor Lucy Castillo, 56, turned up in a wheelchair along with dozens of other people with disabilities.

"When I was in so much pain, I could have taken my life but I did not. Only God can take it," she told AFP.

"I was diagnosed 40 years ago but I was given a chance to live. I want to give these drug addicts another chance."