“Where did that 30 years come from? Did it fall down from heaven or come from beneath the earth? It’s hard to be a prophet. They (prophets) existed before but there are none nowadays,” Cruz told The Manila Times in Filipi-no.
Considering Duterte’s admission of health issues, Cruz said the President might not even see the light of his predic-tion that the Church would soon become “passé.”
“Let’s wait after 30 years. He will be gone before 30 years. He is sick, isn’t he? He will no longer be around before the Church will be gone [as he predicted]. He should not make predictions,” the outspoken cleric further said.
In remarks before newly appointed government officials in Malacañang on Thursday, the President said leaders of the Catholic Church were oligarchs and should be blamed for the ills of the country.
Although a Catholic, Duterte has been blasting the Church and some of its leaders for speaking out against his war on drugs.
Duterte hit the Church and its leaders during the presidential campaign over differences in a number of moral is-sues.
CBCP President and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas has maintained that the Catholic Church would remain critical of any wrongdoing by the government despite attempts to muzzle it.
