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FACT CHECK: Catholics did not get 10 lashes for not attending Sunday Mass

Press One

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FACT CHECK: Catholics did not get 10 lashes for not attending Sunday Mass
Duterte made the false claim during a prayer rally in Davao City on January 28 where he said, 'Alam mo noon, kung hindi ka magsimba, sampung palo sa katawan mo'
CLAIM: A Catholic used to get 10 lashes if he/she did not go to Sunday Mass.
RATING: FALSE

Former president Rodrigo Duterte made the false claim that Catholics got 10 lashes on the body for failing to attend Sunday Mass.

Duterte made the false claim during a prayer rally in Davao City on Jan. 28 where he said: Alam mo noon, kung hindi ka magsimba, sampung palo sa katawan mo.

This claim has no basis in fact as the Catholic Church does not impose corporal punishment on Catholics who do not attend Holy Mass.

The 1917 Code of Canon Law, nor its successor, the 1983 Code, do not prescribe corporal punishments on any transgressions committed by any Catholic.

The only penalty imposed by the Catholic Church upon erring members is either an interdict or excommunication.

An interdict is an ecclesiastical censure or ban placed upon persons or groups from participating in particular rites of the Church for a limited or extended time.

An excommunication is the severest censure imposed by the Church as “a medicinal, spiritual penalty that deprives the guilty Christian of all participation in the common blessings of ecclesiastical society”.

Both censures do not involve any type of corporal punishment.

There are also no historical records in the Philippines or elsewhere proving Duterte’s allegations that Catholics had received 10 lashes for missing Holy Mass. Rommel F. Lopez

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This piece is republished with permission from Press One.

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