January 2015 'B' issue

Page 1

Connecting Global News & Views For The Community

Celeb Scoop page 26

E E FR

UK & Europe Edition

January 2015 / Fortnightly

Volume 6 - Number 2

POPE FRANCIS ‘VERY IMPRESSED’ BY FILIPINOS’ PASSIONATE WELCOME

www.hello-philippines.com

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. Turn to page 2


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