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Sto. Nino Basilica execs prepare for possible Pope visit

Posted on October 10, 2014

CEBU CITY, Oct. 10 (PNA) — Officials of the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño in Cebu City are preparing for the possibility of Pope Francis dropping by Cebu en route to Palo, Leyte, where he is expected to dine with survivors of the earthquake and super typhoon “Yolanda” in January next year.

Apart from the usual arrangements by the executive committee for the huge Catholic celebration in 2015, a contingency plan is set in place because of the spontaneous nature of the Pope who is known to sometimes defy protocol and official itinerary to personally meet with devotees and ordinary folk.

“If the Lord wills that he visits Cebu, the cradle of Christianity, then the Pope cannot do anything about it. He has to follow the will of God. He is the kind of Pope who will take into consideration the welfare of those who need his prayers and presence,” Fr. Harold Rentoria said.

Rentoria is chairman of both the Commission on Cultural Heritage of the Augustinian Fathers and the Commission on Cultural Heritage of the National Cultural Commission for the Arts.

He assured that local Catholic authorities are ready for the Pope possibly joining the Fiesta Senyor and Kaplag Festival activities in 2015.

“We are prepared just in case the Pope decides to drop by Cebu. We’ll be notified days prior by the Vatican or the CBCP (Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines) anyway since the visit is national if this pushes through. We have plans to check on the possible areas to receive the Pope,” Rentoria said.

Possible areas considered to accommodate the Pope include the South Road Properties and the Basilica complex, among others.

Authorities are likewise preparing special security and traffic management plans should this possibility come true.

Basilica rector Fr. Jonas Mejares said two letters were sent to the Vatican inviting the Pope.

The first communication was sent last year for the Kaplag 2015 celebration activities, which include the 450th commemoration of the finding of the miraculous image of the Holy Child at the present Basilica location, the 450th year of Augustinian presence in the Philippines, as well as the 50th year since the church housing the original image of the Sto. Niño from the first evangelizers was declared a Basilica Minore.

The most recent one, sent just this September, invited the Pope anew for the Sinulog 2015 celebration following official announcement of the Papal visit from Sri Lanka in the same year.

“There has to be a Plan B so that we will be prepared should the Pope decide to include Cebu in his visit. As far as initial itinerary is concerned, Cebu is not in the list. But we remain hopeful that he will realize that Cebu is an important place as far as Christianization is concerned, being the cradle of Christianity in the Philippines,” Mejares said. (PNA)

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