“Catholic vote” a vague concept

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Archdiocese Episcopal Vicar Msgr. Esteban Binghay said that the “Catholic vote” is vague concept and that the Church does not promote or campaign for any politician.

“Vague ang Catholic vote, we are both Catholics. The voters as well as the politicians are mostly Catholics. The Church does not do Catholic vote,” Binghay said.

He added that the Church does not promote or campaign for any politician but will instead urge the people to vote conscientiously and consciously.

“If the priest takes action in favor of one, it means he is against the other one. The Church does not do this for the sake of unity since this is a very critical issue on partisan politics,” Binghay said.

“We urge the people to vote consciously and conscientiously on who should lead our country best before the Lord,” Binghay added.

He clarified that what the Church does is to get the general guidelines and spread it to the faithful.

Meanwhile, in a report from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines News, the Catholic Vote Philippines, a Catholic lay organization, is urging all Filipinos to vote according to morals.

CVP spokesman Dr. Ricardo Boncan says that politicians with uncompromising moral principles derived from the Divine Law must be voted since the next set of political leaders would have a great influence in the Philippines’ moral stability as a predominantly Catholic nation.

CBCP News added that the group encourages every voter to look after the public officials’ integrity.

With this, Binghay clarified that the institutionalized Catholic lay organizations can campaign for a particular candidate but not the priests or the bishops.

“That’s why the priests should give guidelines. However, some priests, in confidence, but not official and not in public, can tell who are the best candidates to vote but it’s privately and not publicly done like in Masses because this is a very sensitive issue,” Binghay said.  (FREEMAN)