‘Pray for wounded country’– Manila bishop

HOMAGE TO THE SAINT Hundreds of Catholics on Tuesday pack Manila Cathedral to catch a glimpse and touch the glass-encased heart of Padre Pio, a revered relic of one of Catholicism’s most popular saints, who is believed to have borne the stigmata, or the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Pray not just for yourselves, but for the welfare of our “wounded” country as well.

This was Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo’s appeal to thousands of devotees who came on Tuesday to the first of a two-day program to venerate St. Padre Pio at the Manila Cathedral.

The saint’s heart, which remained uncorrupted decades after his death, is being displayed at the cathedral.

Pabillo said if the faithful see themselves as battered and wounded, the same could be said of the nation.

It was the reason he urged the faithful to reach out to St. Padre Pio not just as individuals but as “Filipinos who are truly compassionate for the nation.”

“There are so many problems,” Pabillo said in a homily.

Renewal

“Let us also pray for our nation. That we be helped by Padre Pio’s intercession and make us live a life of holiness, especially our leaders,” Pabillo added.

“Let us ask for renewal for our nation — that the Philippines become a light in this part of Asia,” he added.

The religious relic, which arrived in the country on Friday night last week, can be viewed round-the-clock by devotees at Manila Cathedral, until 6 a.m. on Thursday.

After that, devotees in Cebu and Davao will get the chance to venerate the relic.

It will stay for another week at the National Shrine of Saint Padre Pio in Batangas, before it leaves the country on the 26th.

The relic’s visit to the country coincided with the Italian priest’s 50th death anniversary, as well as the centennial anniversary of the appearance on his body of the stigmata, or the wound marks of Jesus.