Devotees invited to view John Paul II’s blood relic

MANILA, Philippines — Thirteen years after his death, a vial of Saint John Paul II’s blood will be made available for public veneration at the Manila Cathedral on Saturday. 

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle yesterday invited devotees to welcome the relic of the late pope starting at 9 a.m.

“This is the first ever blood relic of the great pope still in liquid form stored in a glass container here in our country,” Tagle said. 

“Let us come together as we welcome home the presence of our beloved Pope John Paul II and receive the graces and miracles through his powerful intercession,” he added.

Tagle said the relic was given by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the former secretary of the pope, during the 60th anniversary of the cathedral’s post-war rebuilding in December 2017.

John Paul II – who died on April 2, 2005 at the age of 84 – visited the Philippines in February 1981, when he beatified the first Filipino martyr, San Lorenzo Ruiz. He last visited the country in January 1995 when he led the celebration of the World Youth Day.