A senior Roman Catholic bishop in the Philippines on Thursday urged Pope Benedict XVI not to accept President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's invitation to visit the country.Arroyo invited the 80-year-old pontiff to visit the Philippines, Asia's largest Catholic country, during a June 4 meeting in Rome.
But Archbishop Oscar Cruz said a visit by the pope now amid a string of extrajudicial killings, allegations of rampant human-rights abuses and corruption would only create "a semblance of moral ascendancy for the Arroyo administration."
"If the pope makes a visit, it is like telling everybody that everything is OK," he said.
"This administration is suffering from a lack of credibility and lack of honesty."
Cruz added that the pope's visit would be another opportunity for corrupt officials in the Arroyo administration to make money by overcharging expenses in preparation for such an event.
Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, however, disagreed with Cruz. "Let him come to inspire us," he said, adding that the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines had already sent an invitation for Benedict to visit even before Arroyo invited him.
"He will certainly come," he added. "It's only a matter of timing for his health and also for the people."
The last time a pope visited the Philippines was in 1995 when the late Pope John Paul II celebrated what is considered the largest Mass ever held with more than 4 million people attending.
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