Cebu Archdiocese to hold prayer rally vs. divorce

The Cebu Archdiocese is set to organize a prayer rally on Saturday, 27 July, to call on Cebuanos to “say to no divorce.”

Cebu Archbishop Jose S. Palma over the weekend stressed that “when we go to the streets for the prayer rally, we do that not because we want to show like hypocrites but because we are sincere.”

"Deep in our hearts is the sincerity of our intentions. It's a thanksgiving to the Lord for the gift of family, the gift of the sacrament, and the gift of the many who have become witnesses to the marriage that has contributed to the welfare of many families. To us, that's not hypocrisy at all,” Palma said.

“To us, it's the sincerity of our hearts saying 'thank you' to many couples, who, despite many difficulties, believe in God's grace that 'we can go on,'” he added.

The Prayer Rally or procession, which will start at 3:00 p.m., will traverse from Fuente Osmeña Circle to the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño de Cebu.

Images of Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, St. Joseph, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Señor Sto. Niño will join the procession.

A Eucharistic Mass will then be presided over by Palma at 5:00 p.m.

The procession is open to the general public.

According to the Archdiocese, a circular has been sent to all parishes concerning the activity and the suspension of Saturday afternoon masses in the Archdiocese for the faithful to participate.

The House of Representatives on 22 May approved on the third and final reading a bill that will legalize divorce in the Philippines.

With a vote of 126-109 and 20 abstentions, the chamber passed the bill seeking to institute absolute divorce as an alternative means of dissolving an irreparably broken or dysfunctional marriage in the country.

On 12 June, the Divorce Bill has been transmitted to the Senate.

The bill stipulates the grounds for absolute divorce, which include psychological incapacity, irreconcilable differences, domestic or marital abuse, when one of the spouses undergoes a sex reassignment surgery or transitions from one sex to another, and separation of the spouses for at least five years.

This is the second time that a measure seeking to legalize absolute divorce in the Philippines was approved in the House of Representatives.

The first time being in 2018 during the 17th Congress, after which it eventually died upon reaching the Senate.

With the House's approval of the divorce bill, it will be sent to the Senate for deliberation.

The Philippines is the only country in the world, apart from Vatican, that has not legalized divorce.