Catholic bishops in the Philippines have urged Filipinos to pause and reflect on how legalising divorce could affect families and society. Source: CBCP News.
In a pastoral statement issued on July 11, Church leaders in the Philippines emphasised the need to consider the broader consequences before rushing to adopt an absolute divorce law.
They questioned whether making it easy for civilly married couples to dissolve their marriages when they “want out” or when they no longer “feel like it” is truly in the best interest of society.
In the pastoral statement, titled A nation founded on family, a family founded on marriage, the bishops said that being the last country in the world without divorce does not mean the Philippines should “rush to join the bandwagon”.
They also highlighted the importance of understanding whether divorce has effectively protected the common good and family welfare worldwide.
They cited statistics that show that in other countries where divorce is legal, the “failure rate for first marriages is roughly 48 per cent, 60 per cent for second and 70 per cent for third marriages”.
“Are we sure we want our families to become part of this grim statistics?” they said.
The bishops reiterated that the Church maintains its teachings on marriage, even in countries where divorce is already legal.
In May, the Philippines took a step towards making divorce legal, with the lower house of Congress passing a measure allowing people to dissolve marriages. For it to become law, the upper house Senate must also pass a counterpart bill.
The bishops called on legislators to enact ”just laws that truly serve the common good”.
FULL STORY
Bishops on divorce: ‘Maghunos-dili muna tayo’ (By Roy Lagarde, CBCP News)
