MANILA—Filipinos should pray for President Rodrigo Duterte for he is a “very sick man,” Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David said Friday.

“I think it should obvious to people by now that our country is being led by a very sick man. We pray for him. We pray for our country,” David said in a Facebook post.

The statement came after Duterte called saints “gago” (fools) and “lasenggo” (drunk) after telling Filipinos to emulate them on All Saints’ Day.

• After saying ‘emulate our saints,’ Duterte calls them ‘g*go,’ drunkards

David said there is “nothing new” about saints being called as such, because to be a Christian is to be a “fool for Christ.”

“There’s nothing new about our saints being called ‘fools and drunkards’. St John the Baptist was even called ‘devil-possessed’. Jesus himself was called a ‘glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinner’,” he said.

“To be a Christian is to be ready to be branded as a ‘fool for Christ’.”

The President has repeatedly courted outrage from Catholics and their leaders due to their criticism of his war on drugs and other policies.