Pope‘s words for Filipinos

 

Most of Pope Francis' message during his visit to the Philippines were delivered in Spanish. Here are some excerpts from the remarks he delivered.

During the Mass with clergymen and religious: "The great danger is a certain materialism which can creep into our lives and compromise the witness we offer. Only by becoming poor ourselves, by stripping away our complacency, will we be able to identify with the least of our brothers and sisters."

 

In meeting with families*: "To dream how will your daughter or son be. It is not possible to have a family without such dreams... When you lose this capacity to dream, then you lose the capacity to love and this energy to love is lost."

 

During the Mass for Yolanda survivors in Tacloban*: "So many of you have lost everything. I don’t know what to say to you. But the Lord does know what to say to you. Some of you have lost part of your families. All I can do is keep silent...But please know, Jesus never lets you down. Please know that the love and tenderness of Mother Mary never lets you down."

 

In encounter with the youth*: "Today, with so many means of communications, we are overloaded with information. Is that bad? Not necessarily. It is good and it can help. But there is a real danger of living in a way of accumulating information... We run the risk of becoming museums of young people that have everything but without knowing what to do with them. We don’t need youth museums but we do need holy young people."

 

At the Concluding Mass in Luneta: "We forget to remain, at heart, children of God. That is sin: to forget at heart that we are children of God. For children, as the Lord tells us, have their own wisdom, which is not the wisdom of the world. That is why the message of the Santo Niño is so important. He speaks powerfully to all of us. He reminds us of our deepest identity, of what we are called to be as God’s family."

* — message delivered in Spanish


— Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/RSJ, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Pope Francis urges youth to use information technology wisely

 

Pope Francis on Sunday urged the youth to judiciously use information technology (IT) lest "the psychology of the computer let us think that we know it all."

 

Speaking at an encounter with the youth at the University of Santo Tomas, the pope said having many modern means of communication can help but there is a danger of accumulating information.

 

"Today with so many means of communication, we are overloaded with information. Is that bad? Not necessarily ... It is good and it can help, but there is a real danger of living in a way of accumulating information. We have so much information but maybe we dont know what to do with that information," he said through an interpreter.

 

 

 

He warned of the risk of becoming museums of young people who he said have everything but may not know what they want to do with them.

 

The Pope said the challenge is to learn how to love and "through that love, that information bear fruit."

 

"We dont need youth museum but we do need holy young people," he said.

 

Also, he said the youths should learn to use their hearts, minds and hands - "to think, to feel, to do, and all that harmoniously."

 

The Pope also warned against having the psychology of a computer to "think we know it all."

 

"Let us not have the psychology of a computer to think we know it all," he said. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News

 

source: gmanetwork.com

Pope Francis 'very impressed' by Filipinos' passionate welcome

 

An estimated 800,000 to a million Filipinos gathered between Villamor Air Base in Pasay City to the Apostolic Nunciature in Manila on Thursday to offer Pope Francis a welcome that only the lone predominantly Catholic country in Asia could give.

Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ, the director of the Vatican Press Office, said the Filipino faithful did not at all disappoint.

Wire agency Agence France-Presse described the Filipino reception as "rapturous."
 

"The Pope was very impressed," Lombardi said in a news conference at the Vatican Media Center, a short distance away from the Pope's official residence in Manila.

 

"The first encounter of the Pope [with the Filipino people] was very impressive, important, and touching," he added.

 

Aside from the welcoming party at the air base and the crowd that gathered in front of the nunciature, Filipinos lined the route of the papal motorcade to give the 78-year-old pontiff an ardent receptiion.

Lawyer Francis Tolentino, chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority and a member of the organizing committee of the papal visit, said the agency estimate of the people that gathered was between 800,000 to a million.

 

President Benigno Aquino III and members of the Cabinet received Pope Francis at Villamor Air Base late Thursday afternoon. 

 

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines president Archbishop Socrates Villegas, and other prelates were also at the airbase to welcome the pontiff.

 

Students from various Catholic schools in Parañaque performed three dances to welcome the Pope at the airbase.

Church bells tolled

It was the beginning of a five-day trip in the Catholic Church's Asian heartland that is tipped to attract a world-record papal crowd.

 

Church bells tolled across the former Spanish colony as the charismatic pontiff flew into the capital of Manila after a successful visit to Sri Lanka.

 

Francis smiled as he looked out the window of his plane upon touchdown, greeted by the sight of hundreds of children on the tarmac chanting "Welcome Pope Francis!" and "We love you, Pope Francis!"

 

Francis has said his two-nation tour is aimed at adding momentum to the Church's already impressive growth in Asia, with its support in the Philippines the benchmark for the rest of the region. 

 

Eighty percent of the former Spanish colony's 100 million people practise a famously fervent brand of Catholicism, and the pope is set to enjoy thunderously enthusiastic crowds throughout his stay.

 

"Every step he makes, every car ride he takes, every moment he stays with us is precious for us," Villegas said as he called on all Filipinos to make an effort to see him.

 

Hundreds of thousands of people crowded the route the pope passed as he made a 35-minute trip in a "popemobile" from the airport to the Vatican's embassy to rest overnight.

 

The pope stood on the back of the vehicle, which had no walls, waving and smiling constantly to the crowd.

 

"It's a blessing to see the pope. That's why we're here," school teacher Jeannie Blesado, 35, told AFP.
 

Personally comfort Yolanda survivors
 

Pope Francis has several engagements in Manila but Church leaders said the Holy Father's main intention was to personally comfort the survivors of super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in Leyte.

Yolanda, which hit Central Philippines in November 2013, was the strongest typhoon on record to ever make landfall.

 

More than 40,000 policemen and soldiers are deployed different areas to secure the Holy Father during his five-day stay in the country.

 

This is the first time that Pope Francis visited the Philippines, and Southeast Asia since taking the helm of the Roman Catholic Church in March 2013. 

 

The 78-year-old charismatic pontiff went to Sri Lanka for a three-day visit, to kick off his Asian tour, before coming to the Philippines.

 

The first Jesuit Pope who hailed from Argentina gave Sri Lanka its first saint, Catholic priest Joseph Vaz, who led he rebuilding of the Church in the country during he 17th and 18th centuries after the Dutch declared Calvinism as the official religion.

 

The 266th Pope of the Catholic Church is expected to draw some six million people in an open air Mass on Sunday at Rizal Park in Manila. —with a report from Agence France Presse/NB/JST, GMA News

 

source: gmanetwork.com

 

What the Pope can do

 

In the Philippines, Pope Francis will have the mother of all pulpits.

 

He will surely use it to convey words of comfort for the afflicted. But will he also have a message that will shake up the comfortable, even a gentle prick of the conscience that will recognize the deep social injustices afflicting the only Catholic nation in Asia?

 

Most of the world already knows better than to expect only soothing sentiments from this pontiff. Of course, few here expect the Christmas scolding he gave Vatican officials for "arrogance" and "hypocrisy," among other choice weaknesses. 

 

But he must know that he faces a rare opportunity to make a lasting impact on a country with structural inequities comparable to the worst in his native Latin America.

 

If he saw images from the latest Nazareno procession, he will be acutely aware that a lack of religious fervor is not one of our problems. What is glaringly obvious is that our society does not practice what has been preached by many generations of priests on our shores.

 

It's interesting that he chose to combine Sri Lanka and the Philippines in a single trip: the former has a Catholic minority and will treat him not much differently from any popular head of state. Then he flies to the Philippines, where he will have a sense of what the Second Coming could be like.

 

The first Jesuit Pope will not be content with bringing inspiration. He wants to get stuff done. There are indications that climate change and poverty will be his major themes, especially when he visits Leyte and survivors of Typhoon Yolanda.

 

What many papal observers await is how he will frame his message. He has denounced the worst effects of capitalism, evident in what is happening to the planet and the world's poor. But will the Philippines be merely a showcase of the fate of others if they do not heed his call to address these twin ills?

 

Or will he inspire Filipinos to do more than seek his blessings and to solve worldy problems in our backyard?

 

Nearly everyone I've spoken with about the papal visit has a wish list for what can be done during this historic event. Some of my favorites;

 

1. Denounce torture by the state, which the Pope's own country Argentina has had to struggle to overcome. The Philippine police, the same force that the Pope will see protecting him in large numbers, is notorious for its abuse of ordinary citizens, with torture a common occurrence and occasionally a form of entertainment, as an Amnesty International report asserted late last year. No police officer has yet been convicted of torture.

 

2. Admonish erring priests, apologize on their behalf and call for their punishment. It could very well be that our culture of impunity is rooted in the socially influential, such as men of the cloth, being above the law. 

 

3. "Be more scientific." In addition to trusting in God, the Pope can urge Filipinos to trust in education and our own drive to deal with our problems. It's pointless to blame God for disasters; He gave us the will and mind to adapt and mitigate. As the Pope himself has said, "God is not a magician with a magic wand." A believer in evolution and the Big Bang theory, Pope Francis is a model for how to be a man of science and a man of faith at the same time. 

 

4. "Clean as you go." As he prepares a major encyclical this year on the environment, the "green pontiff" can demonstrate his moral power before the multitudes in Luneta. The papal crowd need not be like the Nazareno crowd or any other large public gathering in the Philippines. It can refrain from leaving garbage, now and forever. 

source: gmanetwork.com

Where to get papal visit souvenir items

It's not everyday that the Philippines gets a pastoral visit from the head of the Roman Catholic Church. To celebrate this "once-in-a-lifetime" event, a lot of the faithful look for items that remind them of the occasion. 

 

Here's a list of places where you can get memorabilia to remind you of Pope Francis' visit to the Philippines: 

 

Caritas Manila

The social arm of the Archdiocese of Manila Caritas Manila offers T-shirts for P180-P300 for the papal visit. They also sell umbrellas for P150 and rosary beads for P100. All of their proceeds will be used to sustain programs for the poor.

 

Contact 563-9311, 564-0205, 0999-7943455, 0905-4285001 or 0929-8343857 to order. 

 

 

Radyo Veritas 

 

Catholic radio station Radyo Veritas has a papal visit commemorative gift pack to all those who will donate P500 to the Radio Veritas Foundation Inc. 

 

The gift pack includes the following:
 

• Papal visit commemorative card 
• 30-day unlimited entertainment load powered by a video-on-demand for P250 
• Other commemorative items like the official papal visit T-shirt, foldable fan, and a hand-made wooden rosary bracelet
• Discount coupons from several participating consumer brands 

 

However, because of the huge demand, the gift packs are no longer in stock. But Radyo Veritas is already working on making the items available in major department stores. 

 

Jesuit Communications 

 

Jesuit Communications is known for its liturgical music. And for the pontiff's visit, they made an entire album for the first Jesuit pope. Titled "Mercy and  Compassion: Songs for Pope Francis," the 14-track  album features inspirational songs by Filipino artists like Aia de Leon, Noel Cabangon, Jett Pangan, Ebe Dancel, and Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle.  

 

To get a copy of "Mercy and Compassion," visit Jesuit Communications at Sonolux Bldg., Seminary Dr., Ateneo de Manila University. You can also call the Tanging Yaman store at 4265971 to 72 local 112-113, email tanging.yaman@jescom.ph, or visit the Tanging Yaman kiosk at SM Megamall. It will also be available in religious outlets and all Universal Records stores.

 

Philippine Precious Moments Collectors' Community 

 

Aside from the usual souvenir items, a gift shop in Makati has also created miniature Pope Francis dolls. 

 

Philippine Precious Moments Collectors' Community made a 12-inch Pope Francis doll that costs for P1,000. It comes with a doll box and a certificate of authenticity.

 

The doll has been available since January 1. To get your own piece, visit Precious Moments Manila Showroom in Makati, Precious Moments Lobby Shop in Century Park Hotel, and Jojo's Christmas Cottage in Aklan. For orders, reservations, and inquiries, contact (02) 887-5252 / 225-8332.

 

 

 

 

Philippine Postal Corporation 

 

The Philippine Postal Corporation has also released commemorative stamps to mark the visit of Pope Francis.

 

The collection features four designs selling at P10 each. 

 

 

Online stores 

 

For those who prefer to have their pope souvenirs delivered right at their front doorstep, many Philippine-based online stores such as OLX and AyosDito.ph also have a wide range of items that feature papal visit designs.   

 

Quiapo 

 

The papal visit also sparked the creativity of many small-to-medium entrepreneurs who made their own designs to celebrate the Pope's coming. 

 

Many street vendors in Quiapo have already started selling various Pope Francis-related items such calendars, T-shirts, and prayer booklets during the last quarter of 2014. — VC, GMA News

 

source: gmanetwork.com