Pinoys venerate beloved pontiff

MANILA, Philippines -  Catholics worldwide celebrated the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II, with the faithful turning out to pray, share treasured memories and watch Sunday’s Vatican ceremony on giant televisions.

In the Philippines, where many adore John Paul II with rock-star intensity, people flocked to see mementoes: a piece of his cassock believed to have healing powers and a set of plate, spoon and fork – still unwashed after he used them 16 years ago during a visit to the country.

The popular pontiff has a wide following in the Philippines, Asia’s largest predominantly Roman Catholic nation, where authorities foiled a terrorist plot to assassinate John Paul II during a visit in 1995.

Nearly 10,000 babies were named after him after his visits as pope, according to a news report.

Although John Paul II’s beatification has been criticized elsewhere by some as happening too fast and under a cloud over the clerical sex abuse scandal, it’s being celebrated by many Filipinos as rare good news at a time of depressing man-made and natural disasters in their impoverished homeland and beyond.

“Why not?” asked John Paul Bustillo, a 16-year-old medical student named by his mother after the pontiff who turned out Sunday along with more than 3,000 other people for a six-mile (10-kilometer) race followed by a Mass near Manila Bay.

“He was a model and an inspiration who united the world with his extraordinary charisma.”

A popular church in Manila’s downtown Quiapo district is displaying a small piece of a cassock worn by the late pope and given by a Vatican official to a Filipino priest. Thousands have lined up to touch or kiss the scant piece.

The cloth has red markings, which the basilica’s rector, Monsignor Jose Clemente Ignacio, said may either be the pope’s dried blood or tomato paste since the pontiff was known to love serving pasta to his inner circle.

Ignacio said he was given the relic during an official visit to the Vatican.

Another such piece of clothing, also from the Vatican, has reportedly cured several patients at a state-run Manila hospital, said Monsignor Ignacio.

A Chinese restaurant in the capital’s suburban Quezon City has displayed a set of plates, spoon, fork, water goblet and knives – still unwashed after the pope used them in a 1995 dinner of grilled fish and fried shrimp at the Vatican nunciature in Manila, where the restaurant’s staff set up.

“He was the most important VIP I have ever served in my life,” Leo Matias told The Associated Press, adding that the pope allowed him and seven other waiters to kiss his ring.

Early morning walk

In the province of Bataan, north of Manila, dozens joined an early morning walk to raise funds for a papal shrine featuring a life-size statue of the much-beloved pontiff.

The shrine was built at a park which used to house the United Nation’s refugee processing center. The late pope said mass for thousands of Vietnam war refugees there during his first visit to the Philippines in 1981.

“We will always remember Pope John Paul II and this shrine will ensure he will never be forgotten,” said Efren Santos, one of the organizers of the event.

He said that Catholic bishops as well as high-level government officials were to converge at the site Monday for a special mass to officially open the shrine to the public.

The pope is much revered in the Philippines, and his second visit when Manila hosted the World Youth Day Catholic festival in 1995 drew up to three million faithful, according to church figures.

Prayer vigils

In Australia, hundreds of people gathered at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney to celebrate the beatification, with special prayer services being held inside and a carnival atmosphere outside in the grounds.

Live coverage of the ceremonies in Rome was being broadcast on a giant screen in the cathedral’s forecourt, with food stalls selling treats and music groups performing.

Cardinal George Pell said he had no doubt that John Paul II would be canonized, but noted it was a long process.

“This is the penultimate stage. He’ll be declared blessed, there’ll be a pause – I don’t know, three years, five years, some period of time – before he’s canonized,” Pell said. “But he’s making pretty good time.”

Thousands of Mexicans held a prayer vigil in Mexico City’s Virgin of Guadalupe Basilica on Saturday while two large screens inside the church projected the celebrations in Rome.

Jorge Lopez Barcenas, a 70-year-old painter and body shop worker, traveled from central Hidalgo state to witness the beatification from the Basilica.

“He was a person who elevated the faith,” said Lopez, who saw the pope during two of his five visits to the country.

On Saturday night, dozens of mainly young people gathered at the Basilica to wait overnight for the culmination of John Paul II’s beatification.

Michelle Lopez, 19, told AP that she first saw John Paul II from a distance as a girl during his 1999 visit and that he has been an important figure in her life ever since.

“He looked like a small porcelain doll, very nice,” she said. “He is like a saint to us.”

Guillermo Lozano, a 15-year-old student, also planned to pass the night at the Basilica waiting for the beatification to be shown on the screens.

“In my house, we adore him,” he said. “He was the best pope, I believe, so far.”

In 2002, during his final visit, Pope John Paul II canonized Juan Diego as the first indigenous saint in the Americas. The Virgin of Guadalupe is said to have appeared to Juan Diego in 1531 on a hill where an important Aztec goddess had been worshipped.

Mexico was the third most-visited country by the pope, after Poland and France. – AP, Evelyn Macairan