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Manila: Biggest gathering of faithful ever for a Pope
Vatican Insider ^ | January 18, 2015 | ANDREA TORNIELLI

Posted on 01/18/2015 5:34:59 AM PST by NYer

"Between 6 to 7 million" attended the final big mass in the Philippines on the feast of the Santo Niño. In his homily, the Pope said: “the devil hides behind the allure of being ‘modern’, ‘like everyone else’. Francis also met the father of the volunteer who died in Tacloban yesterday

“God created the world as a beautiful garden,” “but man has disfigured that natural beauty”, creating social structures which perpetuate poverty, ignorance and corruption”. Rain poured down on the millions of faithful that gathered in Rizal Park in Manila to attend the mass celebrated by Francis on the final day of his visit to the Philippines. An enormous crowd of faithful followed him through the streets of the city, braving the bad weather. According to Manila’s authorities, there were between 6 and 7 million faithful present at the mass, an absolute record for a papal gathering, the director of the Holy See Office Fr. Federico Lombardi report.

 

Today marks the feast of the Santo Niño (Holy Child), which is traditionally celebrated on the third Sunday of January. Thousands of Santo Niño figurines donning festive garments were raised in the air as Francis passed by. During the mass, invocations were made in various local languages: Ilocano, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bikol, Cebuano, Waray and Hiligaynon. A blind woman read out the first reading using brail. In the homily read out in English, the Pope said: “Throughout my visit, I have listened to you sing the song: “We are all God’s children”.  That is what the Santo Niño tells us.  He reminds us of our deepest identity.  All of us are God’s children, members of God’s family.  Today Saint Paul has told us that in Christ we have become God’s adopted children, brothers and sisters in Christ.  This is who we are.  This is our identity.  We saw a beautiful expression of this when Filipinos rallied around our brothers and sisters affected by the typhoon.”

 

God “created the world as a beautiful garden and asked us to care for it.  But through sin, man has disfigured that natural beauty; through sin, man has also destroyed the unity and beauty of our human family, creating social structures which perpetuate poverty, ignorance and corruption.”  

 

“Sometimes, when we see the troubles, difficulties and wrongs all around us, we are tempted to give up.  It seems that the promises of the Gospel do not apply; they are unreal.  But the Bible tells us that the great threat to God’s plan for us is, and always has been, the lie.  The devil is the father of lies.  Often he hides his snares behind the appearance of sophistication, the allure of being “modern”, “like everyone else”.  He distracts us with the promise of ephemeral pleasures, superficial pastimes.  And so we squander our God-given gifts by tinkering with gadgets; we squander our money on gambling and drink; we turn in on ourselves.  We forget to remain focused on the things that really matter.  We forget to remain, at heart, children of God. That is sin: [to] forget at heart that we are children of God.” 

 

Looking again at the Santo Niño, the Pope said: “he reminds us of the importance of protecting our families, and those larger families which are the Church, God’s family, and the world, our human family.  Sadly, in our day, the family all too often needs to be protected against insidious attacks and programs contrary to all that we hold true and sacred, all that is most beautiful and noble in our culture.”  Francis went on to say that “we too need to protect, guide and encourage our young people, helping them to build a society worthy of their great spiritual and cultural heritage.  Specifically, we need to see each child as a gift to be welcomed, cherished and protected.” Finally, the Pope said that Filipinos are called to be “outstanding missionaries of the faith in Asia”.

 

Cardinal Luis Tagle gave a final address in which he greeted Francis on behalf of the poor, the marginalised, the orphans, the widows, the homeless, the abandoned, the sick, the victims of discrimination, violence and abuse and the survivors of natural disasters, assuring the Pope, who returns to Rome tomorrow, that all Filipinos would be praying for him. “Every Filipino wants to go with you, not to Rome, don’t worry, but to the peripheries. We want to go with you to the prison cells, to hospitals, to the world of politics, finance, arts, sciences and social communications. We will go to these worlds to bring the light of Jesus.”


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Religion & Culture; Worship
KEYWORDS: manila; philippines; pope

1 posted on 01/18/2015 5:34:59 AM PST by NYer
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To: Tax-chick; GregB; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; Ronaldus Magnus; tiki; Salvation; ...

Ping!


2 posted on 01/18/2015 5:39:54 AM PST by NYer (Without justice - what else is the State but a great band of robbers? - St. Augustine)
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To: NYer

Is such a gathering even possible? That’s nearly the population of NYC.


3 posted on 01/18/2015 6:09:12 AM PST by Oratam
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To: NYer

I have been at a large Mass before, but nothing so big as this. Wow, what an awesome Mass this had to have been.


4 posted on 01/18/2015 6:16:58 AM PST by defconw (If not now, WHEN?)
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To: NYer

The country is 80% Catholic. 7 million is less than 10% of the population.


5 posted on 01/18/2015 6:56:09 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: NYer
Bob and Penny Lord authored a book on the Child Jesus -- and part of it is about Santo Nino.

I read it last month.

6 posted on 01/18/2015 7:41:45 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: NYer

1) The entire country had a three day official holiday for the Pope’s visit.

2) Smokers were urged not to light up as a sign of penance during the Pope’s visit.

SEE HERE:

http://politics.com.ph/post/appeal-to-pnoy-and-other-smokers-dont-light-up-during-papal-visit

The President (a smoker) eventually agreed to quit for a day.


7 posted on 01/18/2015 7:52:20 AM PST by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
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To: Oratam

RE: Is such a gathering even possible? That’s nearly the population of NYC.

Why not? Egypt had close to 14 million protesters demanding to oust Mohammad Morsi.


8 posted on 01/18/2015 7:53:42 AM PST by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
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