Offending the faithful

THIS is not meant to violate the sub judice rule, and I am fully aware that I am not a party to the case, and I am just exercising my free speech rights. But this case filed against Fr. Winston Cabading, an exorcist priest, is very interesting because it has serious implications on several constitutional issues, particularly on the separation of church and state, and on the actionability of the speech of priests during religious rites.

The priest has been hauled to court, accused of violating Article 133 of the Revised Penal Code, which punishes "anyone who, in a place devoted to religious worship or during the celebration of any religious ceremony shall perform acts notoriously offensive to the feelings of the faithful." In this case, he allegedly offended Catholics who are devotees of a particular religious icon, and of a particular claim of a Marian apparition, when he echoed the line of the Vatican effectively debunking the apparition claim.