Visit by Pope Francis to the Philippines
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pope Francis made a pastoral and state visit to the Philippines from January 15 to 19, 2015. He was the third pontiff to visit the Philippines after Paul VI in 1970 and John Paul II in 1981 and 1995, and officially the first papal visit in the 21st century and 3rd millennium after the title was originally scheduled for World Meeting of Families in 2003 but postponed due to John Paul II was unable to attend because of the progression of his Parkinson's disease.[1][2] Besides Manila, Francis visited Tacloban and Palo, Leyte, to encourage the victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) and Typhoon Hagupit (Ruby).[3] The Filipinos nicknamed Francis Lolo Kiko ("Grandpa Francis") as a term of endearment, which he commended.[4] Around 6–7 million attended Francis' final Papal Mass at Luneta, surpassing the crowd at World Youth Day 1995 in the same venue and making it the largest papal crowd in history.[5][6][7] The theme of Francis' 2015 visit was "Mercy and Compassion" (Filipino: Habag at Malasakit).
Date | January 15–19, 2015 |
---|---|
Venue | See venues |
Location |
|
Theme | Mercy and Compassion (Filipino: Habag at Malasakit) |
Cause | Visit to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) |
Organized by | |
Website | www.papalvisit.ph at the Wayback Machine (archived July 10, 2016) |