Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said he hoped that the case filed against President Duterte at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague would ferret out the truth behind the drug-related killings in the country.

“This is a very good step for the ICC to take serious action against the continuous and seemingly condoned violation of human rights in the Philippines,” Bastes said.

“It is our hope that this move will inject fear into the hearts and minds of the accused officials so that they will eventually and sincerely put a stop to these merciless killings,” added the Bicol bishop.

He was reacting to the move of lawyer Jude Sabio, counsel of self-confessed Davao death squad hitman Edgar Matobato, to file a case against Duterte in The Hague.

Opus Dei history book

“The Vanguard of the East,” a book about Opus Dei (OD) in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, was launched yesterday at the University of Asia and the Pacific’s Dizon Auditorium.

Written by Ana Labrada in Spanish and translated by Daisy Lopez into English, the book tells the beginnings and development of apostolic work of OD women in the Philippines and the region between 1965 and 1995.

“Vanguard of the East” was the expression of St. Josemaria Escriva, OD founder, to refer to the Philippines as the epicenter of the expansion of the movement in Asia.

Batangas pilgrimage

Radio Veritas (RV) will hold an Eastern pilgrimage of churches in Batangas on May 14.

To be visited in the Archdiocese of Lipa, according to RV president Fr. Anton C.T. Pascual, are the National Shrine of Padre Pio in Santo Tomas, Batangas; Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian in Lipa City; Carmel of Our Lady Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace (Carmelite Monastery); Basilica of Saint Martin of Tours in Taal, Batangas; and Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay in Taal, Batangas.

Deadline of registration is May 10 at RV studios at 162 West Ave. and Edsa, Quezon City. Pilgrimage donation is P2,200. Call 9257932 loc. 129.

Holy Land pilgrimage

A religious pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Egypt and Jordan will include the following sites: Masada (Herod’s mountaintop palace and fortress); Mt. Olives, Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane, etc.) and Galilee (Chapel of Flagellation; the Church of Holy Sepulcher; Mt. of Beatitudes; Capharnaum, Cana, Mt. Tabor and Church of the Transfiguration.

Pilgrimage coordinators are book author Visitacion R. dela Torre and Elvie Castillo.

Call 8156925 or 5339080; e-mail [email protected], [email protected].

St. Pius V feast

Today is the feast of St. Pius V (1504-1572), the pope who implemented the reforms of the Council of Trent and rallied Europe against the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Lepanto, which stopped the spread of Islam in the Mediterranean.

A Dominican friar, Pius V (Christian name Anthony Ghislieri) urged the praying of the rosary to intercede on behalf of the outnumbered Venetian and Spanish defenders. Because of the Lepanto victory, Pius instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory, later Our Lady of the Rosary, now celebrated every Rosary Month, Oct. 7.

Canonized in 1712, Pius V was the only canonized pope in the second millennium until Pope Pius X was declared saint in 1954.

Novenas

Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City is holding every Saturday at 5:30 p.m., the perpetual novena to the Santissimo Rosario de La Naval de Manila.

On Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m., the church holds the perpetual novena to Saint Dominic de Guzman.

E-mail announcements to [email protected].