Dear colleagues,
Just to share with you events during the Pope’s visit in the Philippines.
The Pope has left the Philippines earlier today. Thousands of Filipinos lined the streets were the papal convoy was passing. People were emotional and some even cried.
On the first day that he was here, people lined the streets and welcomed him. Everyone was so excited and euphoric that finally he has arrived.
On the second day, he went to make a courtesy call to our president, Benigno Aquino. After which, he met leaders of the Catholic church (thousands of priests and nuns) and had a Latin Mass at the Manila cathedral. He talked about evangelization, compassion and love for the poor. Thousands of people were gathered outside the church and like the first day lined up on all the streets were he would pass just to have a glimpse and wave to him. I was one of those who lined up and waited for the papal convoy to pass.
In the afternoon, he was in the mall of Asia and met with thousands of families. He reacted out and reacted on the talks of families of migrant workers, families with disabilities. What he emphasized was the importance of the family.
On the third day of his visit, he went to Tacloban, the hardest hit by typhoon hyan. This was the reason why he came to the Philippines. It was rather unfortunate for there was a typhoon about to make a landfall in the afternoon. Yet, he braved the rain and winds. He went through his schedule but made them all quick – mass, blessing of a poor family, the Pope Francis center, and the mass grave for the typhoon victims, and a quick lunch with the children of an earthquake that hit the country earlier than hyan. He impressed the people because despite heavy rains, he proceeded with the trip wearing a raincoat all throughout. His homily, which reflected on the sufferings of Christ and His mother by His side, touched the people and a lot were seen crying reacting to his message.
it was rather sad, that because of the strong winds, a volunteer lady died when a scaffolding fell and hit her after the papal mass. The Holy father consoled the victim’s father and made attempts to talk to the mother who was an overseas worker.
The fourth day of his visit was packed with people. He was in the University of Sto Tomas, the oldest catholic University in Asia and also a Pontifical university. were thousands of youth were present. He heard the youth talk commented on the role the youth has to play, again mentioning the importance of compassion and love for the poor.
In the afternoon, he had his last mass in front of millions of people (6.7M, the largest crowd). in attendance at the Luneta. His homily again focused on mercy and compassion. Despite the bad weather, people still came wearing raincoats to see him, hear mass and show their love for him. People sang the theme song for his visit and also that of the visit of Pope John Paul during the world youth day in the Philippines. The crowd was ecstatic and so pleased to see him around – happy that he reached out to several people thru his pope mobile.
Truly, the Philippines was blessed by his coming and the occasion will be remembered by everyone. There was really a “Popemania” and he was treated like a rockstar in the Philippines
By the way, the Manila Cathedral and the University of Sto Tomas were included in our City tour. The Luneta was also an area we passed by during the tour and is within walking distance from the manila hotel, the congress venue.
The Catholic Physicians’ Guild participated in the plans for the pope’s visit. We were assigned 2 first aid stations during the holy mass at the Luneta.
Dr Jossie Yambao-Franco *
* Jossie was the competent Over-all Chair of the FIAMC Congress in Manila (October, 2014)
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