Pope Francis will hold back-to-back eventsin Manila on Sunday, showcasing his crowd-drawing power amid aforecast for storm winds and rains on his final day touringAsia’s most-Catholic nation.
The 78-year-old pontiff will meet religious leaders andyouth in the morning at the University of Santo Tomas, beforeholding a mass at Rizal Park, where Pope John Paul II drew asmany as 5 million people 20 years ago. The turnout today mayreach 6 million, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said on Jan. 14.
The Argentine pope is attracting millions across thePhilippines since arriving on Jan. 15 after three days in SriLanka. Yesterday, he drew about 1 million in Tacloban and Paloin Leyte province, where he celebrated a mass and shared lunchwith survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan before cutting his visitshort by four hours because of an approaching storm.
Thousands queued since Saturday near the entrance fortoday’s mass, while hundreds more held a vigil near the 400-year-old university. Many camped along the road from the VaticanEmbassy in Manila, where the pope is staying, to catch a glimpseof him. In the Philippines, where 80 percent of the 100-millionpopulation are Catholic, he’s known as Lolo Kiko, or grandfatherplus his localized name.
“I really want to be close to him, so I volunteered to bea human barricade,” said Paolo Arroyo, a 20-year-old studentwho has been at the university since 2 a.m. Sunday to be part ofthe group that will help protect the pontiff and manage thecrowd. “He is the rock star of the church”
Metro Manila and nearby provinces as well as Leyte wereplaced on the lowest storm-alert level by the weather bureau inits 11 p.m. bulletin, with a warning of occasional rain andgusty winds. Typhoon Mekkhala, the first tropical storm thisyear weakened after making landfall in Samar on Saturday.
After his election in March 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aformer archbishop of Buenos Aires, called on church leaders tofocus preaching on poverty and suffering, and advocated freerdiscussions on homosexuality, abortion and divorce -- whilestill upholding the doctrine on those issues.
The pontiff has washed the feet of lepers and prisoninmates, and regularly plunges into crowds to shake hands withfollowers, making him a security challenge and also a pop icon.Rolling Stone magazine put him on the cover of its February 2014issue. He played an important role in brokering the accordbetween the U.S. and Cuba to normalize ties.
Aldo Dennis Joson, 36, flew from Singapore to be part ofthe 1,000-people chorus at the mass today.
“It’s not just singing for him, it’s singing incelebration of the hope and the promise that he brings,” saidJoson, who attended Pope John Paul’s mass in February 1995.“John Paul’s effect was very calming but Pope Francis provokesyour thinking and calls you to action.”
To contact the reporters on this story:Clarissa Batino in Manila at cbatino@bloomberg.net;Ditas Lopez in Manila at dlopez55@bloomberg.net;Cecilia Yap in Manila at cyap19@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:Stanley James at sjames8@bloomberg.netJake Lloyd-Smith, Jim McDonald
The 78-year-old pontiff will meet religious leaders andyouth in the morning at the University of Santo Tomas, beforeholding a mass at Rizal Park, where Pope John Paul II drew asmany as 5 million people 20 years ago. The turnout today mayreach 6 million, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said on Jan. 14.
The Argentine pope is attracting millions across thePhilippines since arriving on Jan. 15 after three days in SriLanka. Yesterday, he drew about 1 million in Tacloban and Paloin Leyte province, where he celebrated a mass and shared lunchwith survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan before cutting his visitshort by four hours because of an approaching storm.
Thousands queued since Saturday near the entrance fortoday’s mass, while hundreds more held a vigil near the 400-year-old university. Many camped along the road from the VaticanEmbassy in Manila, where the pope is staying, to catch a glimpseof him. In the Philippines, where 80 percent of the 100-millionpopulation are Catholic, he’s known as Lolo Kiko, or grandfatherplus his localized name.
“I really want to be close to him, so I volunteered to bea human barricade,” said Paolo Arroyo, a 20-year-old studentwho has been at the university since 2 a.m. Sunday to be part ofthe group that will help protect the pontiff and manage thecrowd. “He is the rock star of the church”
Metro Manila and nearby provinces as well as Leyte wereplaced on the lowest storm-alert level by the weather bureau inits 11 p.m. bulletin, with a warning of occasional rain andgusty winds. Typhoon Mekkhala, the first tropical storm thisyear weakened after making landfall in Samar on Saturday.
After his election in March 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aformer archbishop of Buenos Aires, called on church leaders tofocus preaching on poverty and suffering, and advocated freerdiscussions on homosexuality, abortion and divorce -- whilestill upholding the doctrine on those issues.
The pontiff has washed the feet of lepers and prisoninmates, and regularly plunges into crowds to shake hands withfollowers, making him a security challenge and also a pop icon.Rolling Stone magazine put him on the cover of its February 2014issue. He played an important role in brokering the accordbetween the U.S. and Cuba to normalize ties.
Aldo Dennis Joson, 36, flew from Singapore to be part ofthe 1,000-people chorus at the mass today.
“It’s not just singing for him, it’s singing incelebration of the hope and the promise that he brings,” saidJoson, who attended Pope John Paul’s mass in February 1995.“John Paul’s effect was very calming but Pope Francis provokesyour thinking and calls you to action.”
To contact the reporters on this story:Clarissa Batino in Manila at cbatino@bloomberg.net;Ditas Lopez in Manila at dlopez55@bloomberg.net;Cecilia Yap in Manila at cyap19@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:Stanley James at sjames8@bloomberg.netJake Lloyd-Smith, Jim McDonald
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