Philippine's Rodrigo Duterte wants to apologise to pope for calling him a 'son of a whore'

Throughout Rodrigo Duterte's presidential campaign, it didn't much seem like the renegade Davao City mayor cared if what he was saying was offensive or politically correct. He "joked" about not getting the chance to rape an Australian minister who was taken hostage, raped and killed in his country in 1989. He says he'll execute 100,000 criminals. And, while Pope Francis was visiting Manila, causing massive traffic jams in the capital, Duterte said he felt like calling up the spiritual leader of most of his country's population and telling him: "Pope, son of a whore, go home. Don't visit anymore."

But now that he's been elected, his tone, at least toward the pope, has softened. On Thursday, Duterte's spokesman said a trip to Rome was in the works, during which the then-president would "explain to the pope and ask for forgiveness." He didn't include a schedule, but said that it was one of Duterte's "top priorities."

Almost 90 percent of the Philippines' population is Roman Catholic, but Duterte says that while he was raised in the faith, he no longer practices it. He has often spoken strongly in favor of birth control and contraception, which puts him at odds with the official Vatican line.

Catholic leaders in the Philippines were quick to denounce Duterte's comments at the time, but that had little effect at the polls. He used the phrase "son of a whore" liberally on the campaign trail and lobbed it at the current president, Benigno Aquino III, too. Later, in an attempt to moderate the impact of his statement about the pope, he called it a "stray bullet" that issued from his propensity to use foul language.

The Washington Post's Emily Rauhala noted the appeal that his common language had on voters. "For his legions of fans in the Philippines, Duterte's brash comments are as appealing as his promise to completely stamp out crime and corruption in just six months," she wrote. "They see him as a superman ready to challenge the status quo and willing to stand up for the little guy."

Duterte will officially become president on June 30.