CBCP to issue prayer for peace in West Philippine Sea

MANILA, Philippines — The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) will issue an oratio imperata or obligatory prayer for peace in the West Philippine Sea.

The prayer will be read from July 25 to Jan. 1, 2025.

“Nobody wants a war,” CBCP president and Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David said yesterday.

The CBCP shares the position of the Vatican’s top diplomat, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, calling for a peaceful resolution of the territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea.

“The Vatican is always in favor of the rule of order, and they do recognize the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. They are sympathetic with the rights of our country as laid out in the UNCLOS,” David said.

Government officials have condemned the Chinese Coast Guard’s continued harassment of Filipino fishermen and Philippine vessels in the country’s exclusive economic zone.