‘Pinoy effect’ energizes Francis

MANILA, Philippines - While Filipinos felt the uplifting “Francis effect,” the pope himself experienced the energizing “Pinoy effect” during his five-day visit in the Philippines, a Jesuit priest said yesterday.

Fr. Jose Quilongquilong, the official translator for the papal spokesman, said Filipinos were not the only ones overwhelmed by the pope’s presence.

“The pope also said he was overwhelmed by the reception of the Filipinos. So the effect was mutual. If there is a ‘Francis effect’ among us, he also has the ‘Pinoy effect’,” Quilongquilong said in Filipino during an interview with ABS-CBN.

“Every time he sees people, he tells (Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio) Cardinal Tagle, ‘Wow, the Filipinos are energetic.’ And because of that, he is energized too. You would rarely see tiredness in his face,” he said, referring to the huge crowds that greeted the pontiff wherever he went.

Quilongquilong said Tagle, who acted as Pope Francis’ chaperone during his stay, would ask the pontiff to sit down in the popemobile but then he would invariably stand up when he would see crowds of people waving at him.

Even the foreign media covering the papal visit were in awe of the huge number of Filipino people who waited for hours, even up to more than a day, to see him, said Quilongquilong.

Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi as well noted that Pope Francis appreciated “very, very much” the reception of the Filipinos.

“We have to recognize that the way in which the pope has been received is marvelous, extraordinary. The pope was very touched,” Lombardi said in a press briefing at the Diamond Hotel after the pope’s final mass at the Quirino Grandstand on Sunday night.

He said the mass in Rizal Park, which drew a crowd of approximately six to seven million, is “the largest event in the history of the pope’s visit. It was really impressive. It was a wonderful celebration.

“The number was incredible. The entire nation was around the pope and the pope has appreciated this very, very much – the impressive way the Filipinos received the pope,” he said.

He added that Asia had been waiting for the pope’s visit and it was time to come.

Tagle noted the pope was “mesmerized” by the presence of people.

“He keeps asking how many people are here. He was very attentive and he has this capacity to marvel and be touched by the faith of the people,” he said.

He added that the event has “transcended the local and regal character of the papal visit.”

Pope blessed kids, neighbors before leaving

Before leaving the country, Pope Francis invited his neighbors and blessed sick children and their mothers who had waited outside his residence.

On Sunday, the pope invited Zsa-Zsa Calixto and her 10-month-old son Shanrick, who was born with a cleft palate and is afflicted with Goldenhar syndrome.

Calixto said she had waited for hours outside the Apostolic Nunciature in Malate, the pontiff’s official residence while in the country, in the hope that her son would receive his blessings.

She said she was overwhelmed when a staff from the nunciature called her and invited her to meet Pope Francis.
“I cried and felt nervous. I could not speak. The pope touched my son’s head and prayed,” Calixto said in Filipino.

She said she was not able to take a picture with the pope but it was not as important as his prayers for her son.

She said she stayed at the nunciature for about 10 minutes.

The pontiff also prayed for a two-year-old hydrocephalic boy carried by his mother Delia Montoya, who lives near the nunciature.

Montoya said she tried to meet Pope Francis last Saturday but security personnel at the gates told her to return the following day as the pope was already resting.

The pope met and prayed over mother and child on Sunday. He also gave them a rosary as he did with Calixto and her son.

The pope also invited on Sunday barangay captain Rico Veneracion and councilor Mon Yupangco, along with about 50 other neighbors.– Pia Lee-Brago, Paolo Romero