Church warnings about firebrand demagogues

Dear Editor, Paul Keenan’s article about Rodrigo Duterte, the new president of the Philippines (‘A Firebrand for the Philippines’ IC 07/07/2016) made for alarming reading, and not merely because such a terrible development poses a threat to the Church there.

While we will surely be hoping that Cardinal Tagle and his fellows in the Philippine Church will somehow prevail over President Duterte and moderate his belligerent “politics”, should we not wonder how such a thing could happen in a modern Catholic country?

Irresponsible populists seem ten a penny nowadays, what with the likes of Nigel Farage in the UK, Marine le Pen in France, the terrifying Donald Trump in the US, and even some of those in Ireland who try to harness and whip up frustration over things like water charges, but President Duterte looks to be a more dangerous sort again.

Few of us want the Church embedded deeply in our politics, but how can the Church help form people so they don’t turn to such false saviours when they feel most in need?

Bernadette Quigley,

Limerick.