Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said his country’s Catholic bishops are “useless fools” and should be “killed”, the latest attack by the controversial leader on the church, which has opposed his deadly war on drugs, Al Jazeera reports. Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo defended the President and shrugged off concerns of possibly inciting violence against Church officials. He said the President was only making an exaggerated statement that should not be taken seriously. In the past, Duterte had cursed God and called God “stupid” for the concept of “original sin” in the Bible’s creation story. Meanwhile in June, religious groups and concerned citizens in the Philippines took to the streets to protest the brazen killing of three Catholic priests in six months.