Catholic leader arrives Philippines

oge okonkwo

January 15, 2015 4:17 PM

Pope Francis will be the fourth pontiff to visit the Philippines, having departed Sri Lanka where he called for unity in the conflict-hit nation and canonised its first saint

Pope Francis has arrived in the Philippines for a five-day visit to the nation.

Reports say he was welcomed at Manila airport by the nation's president, Benigno Aquino, while church bells tolled nationwide to welcome him.

A three-day public holiday has been declared in the capital to clear the traffic.

The highlight of the Pope's visit will be a huge open air mass in Manila on Sunday and a visit to Tacloban to meet survivors of a devastating typhoon in November 2013.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and police have been deployed and security will be tight resulting from failed attempts to kill two previous Popes.

Pope Francis will be the fourth pontiff to visit the Philippines, having departed Sri Lanka where he called for unity in the conflict-hit nation and canonised its first saint.

Eighty percent of the Philippines' 100 million people are Catholic. Huge crowds are expected at each stage of the visit - hundreds of thousands of people are lining his route from the airport.

"Every step he makes, every car ride he takes, every moment he stays with us is precious for us," said Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines. "Seeing him pass by is a grace."

Several million people are expected to attend the open-air Mass in the capital's Rizal Park on Sunday. Organisers say crowds could exceed the five million who gathered for a Mass by Pope John Paul II in 1995.

Military chief General Gregorio Catapang said up to 40,000 security personnel would be tasked with keeping the Pope safe.

"There needs to be a balance between having the Pope meet up with the flock and meeting all the members of the Church and all others who have been invited to attend the public events, as well as at least keeping him away from danger," he said.

Mr Aquino, in a televised address on Monday, urged all Filipinos to help protect the Pope.

In 1970, a Bolivian painter stabbed Pope Paul VI as he arrived in Manila, wounding him and in 1995, a week before Pope John Paul II's visit, police thwarted a plot by Muslim extremists to bomb his motorcade.

oge okonkwo