Pope to mingle for 30 mins with crowd

MANILA, Philippines - Overnight camping in Manila’s Rizal Park on the eve of Pope Francis’ open air mass there on Jan. 18 is prohibited for security reasons, but more Filipinos can meet the pontiff as he will spend some time mingling with the crowd.

Fr. Rufino Sescon Jr., executive secretary of the Rizal Park mass steering committee, explained yesterday that the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) recommended that the park should be secured days before the mass, so camping out there is prohibited to help ensure order and security.

The mass will start at 3:30 p.m. Rizal Park will only be open to the public on Jan. 18 from 6 a.m. until 1 p.m. Even those with special papal identification cards will not be allowed to enter past 1 p.m.

But more people will have the chance to meet Pope Francis because before the mass, he will mingle with the crowd for about 30 minutes.

“Before the mass, the pope goes around to greet the people. He wants to really meet everyone and bless everyone because that will be the only chance for him…That is why the pope said he really wanted to go around,” Sescon said.

A special section near the altar stage will be reserved for 500 people with disabilities, 500 from the urban poor and 500 from the religious. There will be 2,500 priests and 200 bishops.

‘Papal route’

Pope Francis will go through Kalaw, Orosa and Burgos streets and Roxas Blvd., and then enter the Quirino Grandstand through South Road.

The pope will not pass through Taft Ave. because it poses “security problems,” Sescon said.

The priest recalled that during the 1995 World Youth Day, many people camped out at the Rizal Park on the eve of Pope John Paul’s visit. Authorities were unprepared for the large crowd of about five million who showed up, and the police only used human chains to restrict the crowd.

This time, the police and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are preparing 23,000 pieces of concrete barricades, which they will line up along the papal route.

Each barricade measures 1.2 meters high to deter the people from getting too close to the Holy Father.

More than 2,500 policemen from the Calabarzon Region will be deployed to Metro Manila to help in the security during the papal visit.

Police are anticipating the crowd to again swell to five million, or even more. But since the Rizal Park grounds could only accommodate about 1.2 million people, the people are expected to spill over to the outskirts of the venue.

Sescon said church officials would install 18 giant LED screens around the park so that those who will be very far from the venue would still have an opportunity to hear the pope’s mass.

The public is also advised to bring a portable radio and tune in to Radio Veritas which will broadcast the Mass live.

Showing the Phl’s best

Organizers said they would also use the mass as an opportunity to show to Pope Francis the best that the Philippines has to offer.

Since the mass would take place on the Feast of the Sto. Niño, the people who will troop to the Quirino Grandstand may bring an image of the Sto. Niño. The Cebu-based Sandiego Dance Company was also invited to perform the traditional Sinulog dance as a “welcome gesture” when Pope Francis enters the Quirino Grandstand. With Lawrence Agcaoili, Ding Cervantes, Ed Amoroso, Rudy Santos