His profane remarks have set the leader on a collision course with Asia’s largest Catholic Church.

Archbishop Romulo Valles, who heads the country’s association of bishops, called for a day of prayer on 16th July to invoke “God’s mercy and justice on those who have blasphemed God’s holy name, those who slander and bear false witness and those who commit murder or justify murder as a means for fighting criminality”.

He asked Filipino Catholics to join bishops in three more days of fasting, prayer and almsgiving starting on 17th July.

His statement, which did not mention President Duterte’s name, added: “The Church respects the political authority, especially of democratically-elected government officials, as long as they do not contradict the basic spiritual and moral principles we hold dear, such as respect for the sacredness of life, the integrity of creation, and the inherent dignity of the human person.”

On Friday, Mr Duerte vowed to resign from his position if someone could prove God is real though a selfie.

“I just need one witness who will say, ‘Those fools at the church ordered me to go to heaven and talk to God. God really exists. We have a picture together and I brought a selfie’,” he said during the opening of a science and technology event.

A week prior he used an expletive to describe God and called him “stupid”.

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People from all over the world helped the Texas church to raise the funds after the church was demolished as it was deemed too painful to continue using it as a place of worship following the shooting.

Frank Pomeroy – the pastor at the church, recently revealed plans for a $3m project for a new site to draw the Sutherland Springs community back together.

He told ABC news: “Just as God was resurrected and brought back, he’s bringing Sutherland Springs back.”

The present sanctuary has been turned into a memorial to those killed in last November’s massacre.

The new plans for the church sparked controversy after families of some of the victims questioned how the church was spending donations, the Dallas Morning News reported in April.

There have also been non-monetary donations made to the church, including blankets, toys and other gifts.

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Created by YouVersion, the Bible App was one of the first 200 free apps available when Apple launched the App Store on 10th July 2008.

In the decade since, it has been downloaded on more than 330 million devices and in every country of the world.

“We never could have predicted the results we’ve seen as millions of people around the world have read, listened to, shared and interacted with the Bible and each other in new ways,” said Bobby Gruenewald, YouVersion founder and pastor of Life Church.

In the last decade, people have used the app to:

• Read 70 billion chapters of the Bible
• Listen to 12 billion audio chapters of the Bible
• Make 4 billion highlights, bookmarks and notes
• Complete 2.4 billion Bible Plan days

“Early on, we discovered that proximity helped us engage with the Bible,” said Gruenewald. “As soon as I had access to the Bible on the phone that’s always in my pocket, my connection to it naturally became more frequent.”

The app, which initially launched with 15 versions and two languages, has since partnered with publishers and Bible societies to offer more than 1,700 different versions, including the text in more than 1,200 languages.

With smartphones propelling social media platforms to new heights, the YouVersion community quickly adopted social sharing features as they were added to the app.

The £7m move is part of a £30 m package to reduce violence and crime in prisons and stem the flow of illegal mobiles.

Speaking during Premier’s News Hour, Pastor Philip Noel from Jesus House highlighted how the “luxury” item would increase the likelihood for prisoners to be rehabilitated.

“From a human being point of view or from a Christian’s, yes, it is a luxury but we’re not actually sending them in there to die we’re actually sending them in there hoping that the time will change their attitude to life and their fellow human beings,” he said.

“So we really want to make sure that we can do that responsibly and people need to have a voice before they start to hear the wrong voices and can come out worse than when they went in.”

The technology is already in place at 20 prisons, but the Ministry of Justice wants to extend the scheme to another 20 over the next two years.

All calls – which will continue to be paid for by prisoners – will be recorded with active monitoring introduced if there is any suspicion the service is being abused for crime. Only phone numbers on an approved list will be called.

Currently, most prisoners queue for public phones on the landings, which can be a trigger for violence, the Ministry of Justice said.

Explaining the importance of prisoners speaking to their families, Pastor Noel said: “You’ve got to consider those who are left behind….