Bishop confirms Duterte’s claim of ‘Pope’s forgiveness’

DAVAO CITY – Bishop Romulo Valles of the Archdiocese of Davao confirmed claims made by presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte that Vatican has positively responded to his letter asking forgiveness from Pope Francis.

The letter was signed by Angelo Becciu, who Valle said, was one of the Pope’s secretaries.

“His Holiness Pope Francis has received your letter of 21 January 2016, and he has asked me to respond on his behalf. He appreciates the sentiments which you expressed,” Beccie’s letter to Duterte said.

“The Holy Father offers the assurance of his prayers for you, as he invokes upon you the divine blessings of wisdom and peace,” the letter added.

The two-paragraph letter was dated Feb. 24, 2016.

Valles, in a hastily called press briefing, said the letter was coursed through the office of the Papal Nuncio in Manila, which then sent the letter to his office.

“We were so busy with the Holy Week activities that we did not have time to go through the mails,” he said, adding that they saw the Vatican letter from the pile of other mails only last week.

Valles said it was “nice to know that the Pope found time to respond to a letter from a flock.”

“As it is nice to know that a flock would write to the Pope to ask forgiveness,” he said.  SFM

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