Pope Francis Visits Philippines Friday Jan 16,2015

 

Pope Francis's Philippines schedule

• Friday - meets President Benigno Aquino and celebrates Mass in Manila Cathedral
• Saturday - heads to Tacloban, to celebrate Mass and have lunch with survivors of Typhoon Haiyan. Returns to Manila that evening.
• Sunday - morning meeting with representatives of various religions and with young people, before celebrating Mass for up to six million people in Rizal Park 

President Benigno Aquino (R) hosted a welcome ceremony for the Pope at the presidential palace on Friday

 

Pope Francis travelled to Manila's Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in his Popemobile on Friday

   

Priests take pictures of Pope Francis (2nd L) as he arrives to lead a mass for local Catholic leaders in Manila on January 16, 2015

 

 Before the final mass, the Pope held morning meetings with religious leaders and young people at the University of Santo Tomas which is the biggest Catholic university in Asia.

Pope Francis opened his meeting with over 20,000 students by remembering the 27-year-old woman who had died during his visit to Tacloban.


Thousands of people arrived at Rizal Park on Jan 18,2015 Sunday morning, hours before the Mass is due to begin.

Twenty years ago, more than five million people attended a Mass celebrated here by Pope John Paul II.
The Vatican said Pope Francis would dedicate the service in part to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the country in 2013.

The Mass will be the Pope's final full day in the Philippines, where there are 80 million Catholics, concluding his six-day tour of Asia.
Catholic Church organisers said they were preparing for a crowd of up to six million, despite forecasts of rain for early evening when the pope is due to give mass at a giant park.
If the turnout is as big as expected, the crowd would surpass the previous record for a papal gathering of five million during a mass by John Paul II at the same venue in 1995.