The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) urged leaders in the Bangsamoro autonomous region to protect human dignity, rights, and religious freedom following the Sept. 14 parliamentary elections.
“As the BARMM enters a new chapter, we appeal especially to its leaders: make the Bangsamoro a home for everyone,” the bishops said in a pastoral statement.
“Let governance protect the dignity, rights, and religious freedom of every person and community,” they said.
The bishops described the elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as another milestone in the region’s continuing journey toward “lasting peace, justice, reconciliation, and genuine self-governance.”
They congratulated those who participated peacefully in the elections and prayed for those entrusted with public office.
“May they govern not for personal or partisan interests, but for the common good of all—Muslims, Christians, Indigenous Peoples, and every community within the Bangsamoro,” the bishops’ conference said.
The CBCP also called for deeper cooperation among Muslim and Christian religious leaders and Indigenous communities, pointing to Mindanao’s history of conflict, displacement, and injustice.
“Our history bears wounds of conflict, displacement, prejudice, and historical injustice,” the bishops said. “We must acknowledge and heal these wounds, but they need not determine our future.”
Citing the Document on Human Fraternity, signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the bishops said different religious traditions “should never divide us from our common humanity.”
“We therefore encourage Muslim and Christian religious leaders, together with Indigenous communities, to deepen dialogue and strengthen structures of cooperation for peace,” they said.
The statement also cited the experience of a CBCP delegation of five bishops and five priests who took part in a program on interreligious dialogue and peaceful coexistence in Cairo from Aug. 29 to Sept. 7.
The program was sponsored by Egypt’s Ministry of Religious Endowments.
The delegates returned with what the statement called a renewed conviction that “peace is neither a naïve hope nor merely the absence of war; instead, it is always possible as the fruit of justice and charity.”
“It requires that we know one another, respect one another, and learn to walk together,” the church leaders said.
The bishops urged Mindanao communities to move beyond merely tolerating one another and work together for the common good.
“May the peoples of Mindanao move forward together—not merely tolerating one another, but knowing one another, respecting one another, and working side by side for the common good,” they said.
Archbishop Gilbert Garcera of Lipa, president of the CBCP, signed the statement on behalf of the bishops’ conference.
