Exorcist priest arraignment postponed to August — group

A Quezon City court on Thursday deferred the arraignment of exorcist priest Fr. Winston Cabading to August 1, according to the Lay Catholic Initiative.

In a statement, the group said the QC Regional Trial Court Branch 81 rescheduled the arraignment of Cabading to August 1 at 8:30 a.m. due to a pending appeal at the Department of Justice.

“It will be recalled that Fr. Cabading was arrested and detained even before he received the QC Prosecutor’s resolution finding probable cause against him,” the group said.

It said that the Court also allowed Cabading to travel abroad to visit his family. He was required to post a travel bond twice the amount of his bail bond.

Cabading was scheduled to undergo arraignment earlier in the day for the charge of offending religious feelings.

Meanwhile, the group said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a certificate of good standing for the priest on Wednesday.

The certificate stated that Cabading “is a Dominican priest of good standing and is not under any censure or investigation by the CBCP.

The Lay Catholic Initiative said the CBCP also issued a certificate of good standing for Cabading

Cabading was scheduled to undergo arraignment earlier today for the charge of offending religious feelings @gmanews @gmanewsbreaking pic.twitter.com/3yXpxXtuEN

— Joahna Lei Casilao (@joahnacasilao) June 1, 2023

Cabading, an exorcist of the Archdiocese of Manila Office of Exorcism (AMOE), was arrested on May 13, 2023. He posted bail and was granted provisional liberty on May 15.

The case against him stemmed from the 2022 complaint filed by former Commissions Chief Harriet Demetriou after his statements on the authenticity of the 1948 Lipa Apparitions were quoted in a digital Catholic show.

Demetriou, in her complaint, accused the priest of being a “rabid critic” of Mary and lambasted his comment that there exists a 1951 Lipa Diocesan Verdict that “negated the authenticity of the 1948 apparition of Our Lady, Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace.”

The CBCP, for its part, has shouldered the blame over Cabading’s case, saying it may be due to the “shortcomings” of Church leaders.

Catholic lay groups have also denounced the arrest of Cabading. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News