Miriam Defensor Santiago Requests Fr. Catalino Arevalo for a Debate About Hell

Miriam Defensor Santiago Requests Fr. Catalino Arevalo for a Debate About Hell

Miriam Defensor Santiago is challenging Fr. Catalino Arevalo for a debate about 'hell' after the latter said in his homily on Saturday, March 3, at the historic Our Lady of Edsa Shrine, that the lady Senator should issue a public apology for repeatedly berating the House prosecutors in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Fr. Arevalo particularly said, "If you call anybody ‘you fool,’ you are worthy of the fires of hell. And she called them gago, which is Filipino for fool, before millions of people,” referring to Santiago.

As expected, the feisty Senator fires back asking the priest for a debate saying that under a resolution by the Second Vatican Council, “there is no hell; but even if there is, there is nobody there.”

Santiago added that hell is not a geographical place but just a “metaphor” used by the Scriptures to imply the condition of a man’s distance from God.

“Under Vatican 2, the story of Genesis is no longer a historical fact but a myth. The Bible should not be read literally, but should be read in its Aramaic context. Unfortunately, some of the religious refuse to accept the changes started by Vatican 2,” she said.