Bishop hopes Pope Benedict XVI will visit RP next year

MANILA, Philippines - Since His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has been traveling to different continents, a Church official expressed hope that the pontiff would come to Asia and visit the Philippines next year.

Over the weekend, Imus Bishop Luis Tagle told CBCPNews, the official news service provider of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), that he is optimistic that Pope Benedict would visit the Philippines.

He said the head of the Roman Catholic Church has already been to Africa, Australia, United States, Latin America and that they are hoping that he would have a scheduled trip to Asia next year.

Tagle confirmed that there was indeed an invitation for the Pope to visit Manila, not to attend the 5th Asian Youth Day (AYD) scheduled on Nov. 20 to 27, but for the National Congress of the Clergy in January next year.

However, he said that “January is too close and we don’t know if the Pope will come.”

It will be the second invitation extended to the Pope, who declined an offer last year to make a side trip to the Philippines from his visit to Australia for the World Youth Day in July 2008.

In choosing the places that he would visit, the Holy Father selects areas “where he sees so much secularization happening and where faith is diminishing.

“With the limited time and strength that he has, I think that is where he wants to concentrate first,” Bishop Tagle said.