--- description: The Philippine President-elect has backpedaled on a trip to apologize to the Pontiff for calling him a "son of a whore" title: Duterte Cancels Plans to Apologize to Pope in Person image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb6ce5e5ebc91554/698892b0f887dcee25e95cd0/gettyimages-530138396.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Rodrigo Duterte Cancels Plans to Apologize to Pope Francis in Person by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 17, 2016 8:55 AM CUT  Rodrigo Duterte answers questions from journalists during a press conference on May 10, 2016, in Davao City, the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte answers questions from journalists during a press conference on May 10, 2016, in Davao City, the PhilippinesJes Aznar—Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 17, 2016 8:55 AM CUT Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has backpedaled on a planned trip to the Vatican to apologize to Pope Francis, whom he called a “son of a whore.” In his first press conference since winning the Philippines’ election last week, Duterte said the visit would be an “exercise in duplicity,” though an Agence France-Presse [report](http://www.mb.com.ph/duterte-cancels-plan-to-personally-apologize-to-pope/ "undefined") from the conference failed to clarify exactly what he meant by this. Duterte won the election with nearly 40% of the vote, in large part because of his legacy as the mayor who cleaned up the once unsafe Davao City, but his campaign received more attention for his colorful, often uncouth commentary. He made glib jokes about rape and murder, and lamented the traffic jams that erupted in Manila, the capital, when Pope Francis visited the thoroughly Catholic country in 2015. “It took us five hours to get from the hotel to the airport. I asked who was coming. They said it was the Pope. I wanted to call him: ‘Pope, son of a whore, go home. Don’t visit anymore,’” Duterte said in a campaign speech last month. He later issued a letter of apology to the Vatican, which he cited in his remarks on Sunday night. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4338283/rodrigo-duterte-pope-francis-apology-son-of-a-whore/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4338283/rodrigo-duterte-pope-francis-apology-son-of-a-whore/"},"headline":"Rodrigo Duterte Cancels Plans to Apologize to Pope Francis in Person","datePublished":"2016-05-17T08:55:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:35:39.226Z","description":"The Philippine President-elect had called the Pontiff a \"son of a whore\"","url":"https://time.com/4338283/rodrigo-duterte-pope-francis-apology-son-of-a-whore/","keywords":["Philippines","Rodrigo Duterte"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb6ce5e5ebc91554/698892b0f887dcee25e95cd0/gettyimages-530138396.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb6ce5e5ebc91554/698892b0f887dcee25e95cd0/gettyimages-530138396.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rodrigo Duterte Poised To Win Philippine Elections","caption":"Rodrigo Duterte Poised To Win Philippine Elections","creditText":"Jes Aznar—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4338283/rodrigo-duterte-pope-francis-apology-son-of-a-whore/","name":"Rodrigo Duterte Cancels Plans to Apologize to Pope Francis in Person"}}]}] ```