It is really quite encouraging to know that the coming New Year will start with a good news. Diverting our attention from all the bad news plaguing our country for several years now, especially on how corrupt our government has become and how seemingly hopeless our future looks in this connection, is indeed necessary as we start the New Year.
This piece of good news that we have been anticipating is of course the scheduled visit of Pope Francis to our country on January 15 to 19, 2015. This trip was unofficially revealed by the Pope himself during an in flight conference on his way back from the Holy land and officially announced by the Vatican last July yet. Actually, he will visit Sri Lanka first on January 12, 2014 before proceeding here on January 15. This marks his second trip in Asia, the first being his visit to South Korea last August. As announced by the Vatican, the theme of his trip will be “Compassion and Mercy.”
Pope Francis is the head of the Catholic Church with more than 2 billion members all over the world. Undoubtedly the Catholic Church remains to have the biggest number of members on earth. While 80 million Filipinos comprising about eighty percent of our country’s population are Catholics, it is still comparatively smaller than the other Catholic countries in the world as to merit an early visit by the Pope who was installed only more than a year ago.
To be sure other Popes have also visited our country but only after they have been in Office for several years and after having visited much bigger and more well-off Catholic countries in other parts of the world. In fact the last visit of a Pope to our country was 20 years ago in January, 1995 in connection with the 20th world youth day conference held in Manila when Pope St. John Paul II addressed a record crowd of 5 million Catholics gathered at the Luneta. So being visited by a Pope during the early years of his term truly warms the cockles of the heart of every Filipino Catholic.
The Pope’s forthcoming visit once more highlights the “refreshing” kind of evangelization he has been advocating since he became the Vicar of Christ on earth. It brings to mind more vividly how our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed God’s kingdom and spread the Good News when He came into this world more than two thousand years ago. He walked with the people especially the poor and showed them how God so loved the world and gave His only begotten Son so that all of us may be saved and have eternal life.
It is really quite significant to note the places to be visited by the Pope in his upcoming trip this January, 2015 specifically Sri Lanka and the Philippines. These two countries are obviously the only countries in this part of the world which are predominantly Catholic. But they are apparently among the third world countries which are still poor and underdeveloped up to now. Opting to visit them indeed demonstrates the Pope’s constant focus on the poor and the lowly in spreading the gospel.
Thus when he comes here, he will visit not only Manila but also Tacloban City which was devastated by the Super Typhoon Yolanda last year and where more than 6,000 people died and where victims continue to suffer the damaging after effects due to slowness in the rehabilitation. This is really a clear manifestation of his care and concern for those who are suffering victims of destructive and deadly calamities.
The Pope’s visit to our country perhaps becomes more urgent and timely in the light of the recent reports that Catholics here are dwindling in number allegedly because of the Church’s rigid stand on some issues about the right to life, the sanctity of marriage and the solidarity of the family. Maybe the Pope can clarify the various versions and interpretations given to the final Resolution adopted by the Synod of Bishops last October, 2014 especially regarding same sex marriage, gay rights and contraception.
Indeed, because of the Pope’s oft repeated appeal to show “mercy and compassion” to those who are opposing and assailing the doctrines of the Church regarding these issues, there are some sectors in the Church who are advancing the theory that the Church is changing some of her doctrines in this regard which are based on the infallible truths revealed by Jesus Himself. It is really quite unfortunate that they cannot see clearly the Pope’s stand on this matter. He is simply telling us not to condemn the sinner but only their sins by showing mercy and compassion on them so that they may be converted.
The official itinerary for Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to the Philippines as published by the Vatican starts upon his arrival at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City at 5:45 pm where he will be given an official welcome. The following morning, the Pope is slated to visit with the President Benigno Aquino III, as well as local authorities and the diplomatic corps at the Rizal Ceremonial Hall in Malacanang. Later that day at 11:15 am, he will celebrate mass with bishops, priests and religious in Manila’s cathedral, and afterward will hold an encounter with families. He will depart the next morning, Jan. 17, for Tacloban.
In Tacloban the pontiff will celebrate mass after his arrival, and will then have lunch with survivors of the typhoon Yolanda that devastated the country last year, causing the death of around 6,000 people.
After the lunch, the Pope will go on to bless the city’s “Pope Francis Center for the Poor” and will hold mass for priests, religious, seminarians and families of the typhoon survivors. He will return to Manila by plane that evening.
On his last full day in the Philippines, the Roman Pontiff will hold a brief encounter with interreligious leaders, followed by a meeting with the youth in the afternoon, and will conclude the day by celebrating mass in Manila’s Rizal Park.
He will have a farewell ceremony the morning of Mon., Jan. 19 at Manila’s Air Base before returning to Rome.
E-mail: attyjosesison@gmail.com
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