POPE FRANCIS IN TACLOBAN

"Life is a journey. When we stop, things don't go right." - Pope Francis.

Pope Francis visited the Philippines from January 15-19, 2015 and his coming created great enthusiasm and interest among his flock in the Roman Catholic church and even in a great majority of non-Catholics. 

It was the first time I saw a pope in person.  Pope Paul VI visited the Philippines once while Pope John Paul II came to the country twice but I never had a chance to see them live.

Maasin cathedral delegation

I and Chona were part of the delegation of the Maasin Cathedral during Pope Francis' sojourn to the typhoon ravaged Tacloban.  But we went ahead of the group a day before where our family camped and fetched our tents at our private lot in Palo, Leyte near the Cathedral.

Pope Francis was scheduled to visit Leyte on January 17, 2015.  We met our fellow Maasin delegates led by Msgr. Oscar Cadayona the day before at San Joaquin National High School in Palo.  Then we proceeded at about 6:00 P.M. to the mass site at the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport.

Our city bus parked at a space about half a kilometer away from the site of the Pope's mass.

We attended his Holy Mass joining 300,000 pilgrims from all over the Philippines and a great number of Typhoon Yolanda survivors. We braved the rains and winds brought by Typhoon Amang and spent a sleepless night staying at our place in the airport as early as 12:00 midnight.

It was a coincidence as Amang in Tagalog and Papa in English means the same thing - Father - referring to the Pope.

Tight security

Security was so strict because of some threat by terrorists on the life of the Pontiff.  We had to pack our things on transparent bags.  Presidential Security Group personnel guarded the gates where we lined up in long lines for inspection.

Fluids, sharp objects, metals and other dangerous materials were prohibited and confiscated.  

We slept on the cemented flooring and were packed like sardines in each quadrant.  The whole area was divided into quadrants and each quadrant is barricaded by wooden barriers.  It started to drizzle at dawn but we kept on lying on the concrete ground to take some much needed nap.  

Using the comfort rooms were difficult especially for the females because they had to endure the long lines of people.  For males, we can just urinate on makeshift galvanized iron walls to evade the long lines.

Pope's arrival

Our coldness and tiredness were gone when Pope Francis arrived at about 8:45 A.M. and was 45 minutes ahead of schedule.  The aviation authorities advised the Holy Father to fly earlier because of the coming typhoon.  We were chanting "Viva Il Papa...Papa Francesco!" to welcome him.

We were so touched by his homily. Pope Francis consoled survivors of history's most powerful typhoon on record, saying they can identify themselves with Jesus Christ, who suffered like they did.

"Jesus always goes before us ... And if today we find ourselves 14 months afterwards here, 14 months precisely after the typhoon Yolanda hit, it is because we have the security of knowing that we are not going to weaken in our faith, because Jesus has been there before us," he said in his homily.

"In his passion, he assumed all our pain," the pope added.

He confessed that he wanted to visit the ravaged areas of the Visayas the moment that he watched the disaster from Rome.

"I saw from Rome that catastrophe, I felt that I had to be here. And on those very days, I decided to come here. I'm here to be with you," Pope Francis said. "A little late I have to say, but I'm here. "

His message was interrupted by applause from the crowd, who were already in tears and drenched from the rain.

"I've come to tell you that Jesus is Lord, and he never lets us down," he added.

The Roman Pontiff, who was on his third day in the Philippines, explained that even when many have lost their homes, livelihood and loved ones, God did not leave them.

"Jesus is there"

"Jesus is there, nailed to the cross, and from there he does not let us down. He was consecrated as Lord on that throne and there he experienced all the calamities that we experience," he said.

"The Lord from the cross is there for you. In everything, he is the same as us. That is why we have a Lord who cries with us and walks with us in the most difficult moments of life," Pope Francis added.

Francis also admitted that he did not know what to tell the survivors.  He told the faithful that "so many of you in Tacloban have lost everything. I don't know what to say - but the Lord does… He underwent so many of the trials that you do."

"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 silence and walk with you all with my silent heart," he said.

Concluding his impromptu homily, he said: "This is what comes from my heart. Forgive me if I have no other words to express myself. Please know that Jesus never lets you down. Know that the tenderness of Mary never lets you down."

Sporty pope

The Pope did not show signs of fatigue with his very hectic schedule even at the age of 78.  I wrote in philboxing.com that the Pontiff loves sports and he was a sporty pope. He has a special interest in sports.  According to catholicnews. com when he was young, he played basketball and danced the tango, which he said he loves "very much. It's something that comes from within." 

Pope Francis' father was a basketball player. When the pope visited the Philippines he probably understood the Filipinos' love for basketball. He was influenced by his father, who played basketball for San Lorenzo, and the Pope also played the sport with friends as a young teen. 

Since his papacy, the pope was visited by different sports personalities in Vatican and received signed jerseys from different teams. 

266th pope

Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires to Italian parents and is the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. He worked briefly as a chemical technician and nightclub bouncer before entering the seminary.

He was ordained to priesthood in 1969 and from 1973 to 1979 he was    Argentina's Provincial superior of the Society of Jesus. He became Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, and three years later a cardinal in 2001.

When Pope Benedict XVI resigned in February 2013, he was elected by the papal conclave on March 13, 2013 Pope Francis is the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere and after 1272 years, the first non-European Pope since Pope Gregory III. He used the papal name Francis in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, who was born from a wealthy family but chose to become poor.