MANILA - Despite Typhoon Amang, Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Saturday morning at the Tacloban Airport, wearing a yellow raincoat - just like the estimated 1 million residents who attended the Eucharistic celebration - to protect him from the rain.

To the disappointment of the people of Leyte Province, the pontiff cut short his visit in the Yolanda-stricken provinces by four hours on advice of a Philippine Airlines pilot. Pope Francis left Tacloban at 1 p.m. and arrived safely at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City after one hour.

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These incidents reflect in a way the stormy relationship between the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines and the Philippine government since the 1970s when the country was ruled by then dictator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Then Archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin, led the call for people to converge at a major highway in the national capital region that led to the ouster of the Marcos regime in 1984.

However, the conflict between the state and the church continues to this day, best exemplified by the Friday speech of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III when he criticized the local clergy in front of Pope Francis.

Like all his major public talks, Aquino used his speech to hit the previous administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and some clergy as well for allegedly playing blind to the abuses of the Arroyo government.

"There was a true test of faith when many members of the Church, once advocates for the poor, the marginalized, and the helpless, suddenly became silent in the face of the previous administration's abuses, which we are still trying to rectify to this very day," Aquino said.

He charged that clergy demonstrated their faith by finding something to criticize his administration, with one even allegedly advising him to do something about his receding hairline.

That tirade was heavily criticized in social media by Filipinos who described the scion of the political clan as vindictive.

Current Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, however, dismissed the president's missive on some clergy as arising from his personal experience when his family suffered during the term of Marcos and his political experience of inheriting the problems caused by the alleged massive corruption of the Arroyo administration.

"While the silence of some bishops were mentioned, I think it is still a commentary on the previous administration," said Tagle, quotes Rappler, although he suggested focusing in the meantime on the papal visit and dissecting the president's speech later.

However, even taking away the Arroyo administration from the picture, the church had tangled with the Aquino government over many issued such as the reproductive health law that the president signed in 2012, which he said was about giving Filipinos freedom of choice.

Interestingly, even the kissing of the ring of Pope Francis has become an issue being linked by Philippine media and netizens to the rift between the church and the state.

GMA noted that twice, Aquino attempted to kiss the ring of the pontiff - first upon the arrival of the pope on Thursday and second at Pope Francis's courtesy call at Malacanang Palace on Saturday - but the pope seemed to pull his hand away and preferred a handshake.

However, the pope allowed other government officials to kiss the ring of the fisherman. But one netizen pointed out that Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, touted to be Aquino's anointed one for the 2016 national elections, never even attempted to kiss the pope's ring.

But the Manila Times, in its editorial, saw in the event a pretense on the part of the president instead of the pope pulling his hand away.

"The video shows that Mr. Aquino's lips were at least three inches away from the Holy Father's fingers when he released the latter's hand ... The motions he made of showing humility, love and reverence were all an act - to impress our Pope."

In his apology to people of Palo, Leyte, for cutting short his trip, the pontiff said, "The weather forecast says ... it's going to get much worse. So I apologise to you all. I'm sad about this, truly saddened," quotes Reuters.

And like the weather that is predicted to turn for the worse, church and state relations in Asia's only Catholic country is expected to also go through rougher days based on Aquino's speech in front of the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

And rather than rebut the president, Pope Francis's reply was a classic by challenging Aquino to address corruption.

TagsPope Francis, Papal visit, Benigno Aquino III