Bergoglio in the Philippines: Highlights and pictures from various sources…
Pope Francis waves to pilgrims as he passes by with his motorcade during a meeting with youths at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila, Philippines, January 18, 2015. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoc
Pope ends visit in front of a record crowd of 6-7 million in Manila
By Philip Pullella and Rosemarie Francisco
MANILA, Jan 18 (Reuters) – Pope Francis concluded his trip to Asia on Sunday with an open-air Mass for a rain-drenched crowd in Manila that the Vatican and the government said drew up to seven million people, the largest ever for a papal event.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the office of the president told the Vatican that between six and seven million attended the Mass in Manila’s Rizal Park and surrounding areas.
“We are not able to count all these people, obviously, or to verify this, but in any case, we have seen so many people that we believe that it is possible,” Lombardi told a briefing.
“If this is true, and we think it is, this is the largest event in the history of the popes,” he said, noting that Pope John Paul drew some five million to the same area in 1995.
The 78-year-old pope, wearing a transparent yellow poncho over his white cassock, was driven through the ecstatic crowd in a “popemobile” modified from a jeepney, the most popular mode of transport in the Philippines which is based on a U.S. military vehicle used in World War II.
He stopped often along the route to kiss children and bless religious statues on the day the Philippines celebrates the feast of the infant Jesus. The faithful, also wearing ponchos, held up rosaries in a forest of uplifted arms as he passed by.
Some people in the capital of Asia’s only predominantly Catholic country had waited all night for gates to open at dawn. The gates opened nine hours before the start of the Mass, which was due to last nearly three hours.
In his homily, the pope urged Filipinos to shun “social structures which perpetuate poverty, ignorance and corruption,” a theme he stressed when he held talks with President Benigno Aquino on Friday. Aquino attended the Mass.
Francis also took another swipe at the government’s population control efforts, saying the family was under threat from “insidious attacks and programmes contrary to all that we hold true and sacred.”
STREET CHILDREN
The pope’s last full day in the Philippines began with an emotional youth gathering at a Catholic university in Manila, where he was moved by a question posed by a 12-year-old girl who had been abandoned.
“Many children are abandoned by their parents. Many of them became victims and bad things have happened to them, like drug addiction and prostitution. Why does God allow this to happen, even if the children are not at fault? Why is it that only a few people help us?” the girl, Glyzelle Iris Palomar, asked him.
The girl, who was rescued and found shelter in a Church-run community, broke down in tears and could not finish her prepared welcome. The pope hugged her and later put aside most of his own prepared speech to respond.
“Why do children suffer?” the Argentine Pope said, speaking in his native Spanish. An aide translated his words into English for the crowd of about 30,000 young people on the grounds of the Church-run university.
“I invite each one of you to ask yourselves, ‘Have I learned how to weep … when I see a hungry child, a child on the street who uses drugs, a homeless child, an abandoned child, an abused child, a child that society uses as a slave’?” he said.
Children can be seen living on the streets of the Philippine capital, as they often do in many poor Asian countries, surviving by begging and picking through garbage in vast dumps.
The United Nations says 1.2 million children live on the streets in the Philippines. According to the Child Protection Network Foundation, 35.1 percent of children were living in poverty in 2009, the last year such data was available. Nearly 33 percent of Filipinos live in slums.
Source: Reuters
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The Caravaggio painting referenced by Pope Francis at UST
The Calling of Saint Matthew – Caravaggio (1599-1600)
In his address to young people at University of Santo Tomas, Pope Francis told the story of the calling of St. Matthew. But aside from merely telling the story, he told the youth to check out the painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
“Let’s think of St. Matthew, he was a good financier and he let people down, because he imposed taxes on his own citizens, the Jews to give to the Romans, full of money. But Jesus looks at him and says, follow Me. “Jesus called him and those around him said, ‘This one? He has betrayed, he’s no good. And he holds money to himself!’ If you have time, go and see the picture that Caravaggio painted about the story,” said the Pope.
Pope Francis’ with youth, Luneta mass, network shutdown
Pope Francis tells people: don’t be afraid to cry. What sets apart the Catholic Filipino according to the Pope? And, cellular networks shut down to secure him.
- Pope Francis tells Filipino youth: don’t be afraid to cry.
- In his last Mass, the Pope says the Baby Jesus or Santo Nino is at the core of the Filipino Catholic’s identity.
- And digital activity in the texting capital of the world slows to a halt as networks shut down for security reasons.
Source: Rappler
See you next January, Papa Francisco? Pope invited to Cebu confab in 2016
Pope Francis has been invited to return to the Philippines in January next year to attend the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said on Sunday night.
Tagle made the disclosure in a news conference on the eve of Pope Francis’ departure for the Vatican after a successful and heartfelt interaction with Filipinos over the past few days.
“The Philippines will host next year, in January next year, the 51st International Eucharistic Congress. It will be held in Cebu. Again, another international event. The last Eucharistic Congress was held in Dublin in Ireland,” Tagle said.
“The Philippines will host next year, in January next year, the 51st International Eucharistic Congress. It will be held in Cebu. Again, another international event. The last Eucharistic Congress was held in Dublin in Ireland,” Tagle said.
“Now, will the Pope come again for that? We hope. The Episcopal Conference has already invited him,” he added. —NB, GMA News
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Pope Francis leaves typhoon-hit Philippine Island amid storm
Pope Francis was met with storms as he arrived in the central Philippines city of Tacloban to pray for the dead and comfort survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, the country’s worst natural disaster that killed 6,300 people barely a year ago.
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Philippines plane overshoots runway after Pope visit
A plane carrying Filipino government officials overshot the runway at Tacloban airport after the Pope was forced to cut short his visit to the country due to storms.
The Associated Press news agency reports that no-one was injured in the incident.
In his visit to the region hit by last year’s devastating Typhoon Haiyan, Pope Francis told worshipers: “When I saw from Rome that catastrophe, I felt that I had to be here. On those very days I decided to come here.
“I am here to be with you. Perhaps a little late, I have to say, but I am here,” he said.
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Pope Francis (R), in a rain poncho, attends during a Mass near Tacloban airport Credit: Reuters
Pope delivers mass in heavy rain and high winds
Pope Francis began a Mass near Tacloban airport wearing a transparent yellow poncho over his vestments as heavy rain and strong winds lashed a large crowd of worshippers, who stood amid puddles in a mud-soaked field.
Pilgrims brave rain and strong wind as they wait at Tacloban airport. Credit: Reuters
Speaking at the presidential palace on Friday, the Pope admired the “heroic strength, faith and resilience” shown by the Philippines as well as the solidarity people demonstrated after the typhoon.
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Pope Francis prays for the dead and survivors in Tacloban. Credit: PA
Pope Francis was met with storms as he arrived in the central Philippines city of Tacloban to pray for the dead and comfort survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, the country’s worst natural disaster that killed 6,300 people barely a year ago.
Source: Philippines Tour – ITV News
Schoolchildren dressed as Swiss Guards rest as they wait for the arrival of Pope Francis outside the Manila Cathedral in Manila, Jan. 16. photo – Erik De Castro / Reuters
‘Star Struck’ fans of Bergoglio
Thousands of the faithful push to see Pope Francis as he arrives at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Manila, on Jan. 16.
Wally Santana / AP
Wally Santana / AP
Vatican II Rotten Fruits…Filipino priests use their smart phones to take pictures of Pope Francis on a monitor during a mass for clergy and religious at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Manila on Jan. 16.
Bergoglio Doll for a souvenir!
Horned Hand or The Mano Cornuto: This gesture is the Satanic salute, a sign of recognition between and allegiance of members of Satanism or other unholy groups.
Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle shows Pope Francis how to give the popular hand sign for “I love you”(!!?) at the Mall of Asia arena in Manila, Philippines on Jan. 16.
The only thing missing from photo is Sister Cristina Scuccia which would make it the ‘unholy trinity!’
Novus Ordo Sister Cristina Scuccia
Related: SIGNS OF SATAN – HAND SIGNS
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