Vatican City, 15 January 2015 (VIS) – Early this morning the Holy Father travelled by car from the apostolic nunciature of Colombo to the airport, where he departed for Manila, capital of the Philippines. During the journey he stopped to visit the Benedict XVI Cultural Institute where he was received by Fr. Mahamale Quintus Fernando, rector of the Institute, and two hundred workers who had collaborated in building the centre in 2011. He then visited the “Our Lady of Lanka” Chapel, where he was awaited by ten Jesuit fathers belonging to the Community linked to the Institute, a choir and a group of fishermen from the area.
The Chapel of “Our Lady of Lanka” dates from 1911 and was initially dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Cardinal Jean-Marie Masson, O.M.I., archbishop of Colombo, made a vow to the Virgin: if the country was spared the horrors of war, he would build a shrine where the chapel stood, dedicated to “Our Lady of Lanka”. The works were completed in 1974 and it was consecrated in February of the same year, with the status of Minor Basilica granted by Pope Paul VI. The Benedict XVI Cultural Institute was opened in 2011 upon the initiative of Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, archbishop of Colombo, to facilitate collaboration with the authorities and other agencies in rebuilding the nation following thirty years of civil war.
Pope Francis then resumed his journey to the airport, where Maithripala Sirisena, president of the Republic, various representatives of the civil authorities and a group of faithful bade him farewell.
At 9 a.m. local time the aircraft carrying the Pope departed from Colombo for the Filipino capital. After a flight of six and a quarter hours, he arrived at the Villamor Air Base in Manila where he was received by representatives of the religious and civil authorities, including the apostolic nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto and the president of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III.
Two children offered flowers to the Pope as he disembarked, around one hundred adolescents sang “Welcome Pope Francis”, and a large group of smaller children dressed in white and yellow performed a lively dance. The Holy Father left the air base in an open Popemobile to travel the nine kilometres separating the base from the apostolic nunciature of Manila, during which he greeted the many faithful who awaited him. Upon arrival at the apostolic nunciature, he dined in private and rested….
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has arrived in Manila, the Filipino capital, for the second leg of his pastoral visit to Asia. After a six and a half hour flight from the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, the papal plane was greeted by cheering, singing and dancing crowds as it touched down on Thursday morning at an air base close to the international airport in Manila named after the assassinated Filipino leader ‘Ninoy’ Aquino. Francis is the third pontiff to visit the Philippines, known as the Catholic heartland of Asia, following two trips by Pope John Paul and one by Pope Paul VI in November 1970.
Listen to our report:
The central theme of this second leg of the visit is ‘mercy and compassion’ and among the most eagerly awaited moments will be a trip on Saturday to the central city of Tacloban, nearly 600 kilometres southeast of Manila, which was hardest hit by a typhoon in November 2013 that left over seven thousand three hundred people dead or missing. Pope Francis will celebrate an open air Mass at Tacloban airport, bless a new centre for the poor named after him and have lunch with survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, or Yolanda as it was known in the Philippines. He’ll also meet with priests, seminarians and religious men and women in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration in the nearby town of Palo which was also devastated by the violent storm.
In the sprawling capital of Manila the Pope will celebrate two Masses, one on Friday in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, after a meeting with President Benigno Aquino, and followed by an encounter with families from right across the country. On Sunday, the final day before his departure, he will preside with all the local bishops at a concluding Mass in the giant coastal park where Pope John Paul II addressed an estimated crowd of mainly young Filipinos exactly two decades ago.
In a pastoral letter sent out ahead of the Pope’s arrival in the Philippines, the popular Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said the Pope’s visit will offer opportunities “to experience grace, to hear callings, to disturb comfort zones, to value the poor, to renew society, to care for creation and to live honourably.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has arrived in Manila, the Filipino capital, for the second leg of his pastoral visit to Asia. After a six and a half hour flight from the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, the papal plane was greeted by cheering, singing and dancing crowds as it touched down on Thursday morning at…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has arrived in Manila, the Filipino capital, for the second leg of his pastoral visit to Asia. After a six and a half hour flight from the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, the papal plane was greeted by cheering, singing and dancing crowds as it touched down on Thursday morning at…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) Working against time to define and set up all that is necessary to accommodate and respond to the needs of media operators in a digital world during Pope Francis’s journey to the Philippines, is Bishop Mylo Vergara who is in charge of communications for the Philippine Bishops’ Conference. He speaks to Vatican Radio’s…
Read more