The late Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, a staunch defender of the Catholic Church, once drew criticism for upholding the traditional definition of marriage and frowning on same sex unions, an official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said Monday.

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Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines episcopal commission on public affairs, said Benedict XVI purified the Catholic faith and upheld church opposition to female priests and married priests as well as same-sex marriage.

"Ngayon meron nang same sex union pero si Pope Benedict XVI ay talagang pinanindigan niya ang traditional meaning ng marriage is between a man and a woman at hindi ito isang invention kundi isang paninindigan dahil yun naman talaga ang linikha ng Diyos tungkol sa kasal," he said in a TeleRadyo interview.

"People criticized him for that, sinasabi na itong si Pope Benedict XVI ay hindi marunong umunawa. Hindi marunong mag-accommodate pero it is not about accommodation. It is all about defending one's faith and defending one's doctrine., upholding the teachings."

He added that the pope sought to revitalize the Catholic faith by reminding people of their Christian roots, which is the Lord Jesus.

He also fought the "dictatorship of relativism", which he described as the denial of objective truth. "Ang relativism ay hindi kumikilala kung ano ba talaga ang totoo dahil ang bawat tao ay may katotohanan..."

Secillano said Pope Benedict XVI pointed out the dangers of relativism as it sought tolerance of all truths, which leads to chaos, instead of clinging to the gospel.

The CBCP official said he expects high ranking church officials and heads of state to attend Pope Benedict's funeral.

Benedict, a conservative intellectual who in 2013 became the first pontiff in six centuries to resign, died on Saturday at his home in a monastery inside the grounds of the Vatican.

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His body will be moved on Monday morning to St. Peter's Basilica, where for three days the public will be able to pay their respects before a funeral on Thursday overseen by Pope Francis.

The ceremony will be "solemn but simple", the Vatican has said, after which he will be buried in the papal tombs under St. Peter's Basilica.

The last papal funeral, of John Paul II in 2005, drew a million faithful and heads of state from around the world, although Benedict was a more divisive figure.

A brilliant theologian, Benedict alienated many Catholics with his staunch defense of traditional values and as pope struggled to impose his authority on the church as it battled a string of crises, including over clerical sex abuse. With Agence France-Presse

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