THREE cardinals will join Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal in the national thanksgiving celebration of St. Pedro Calungsod at the South Road Properties (SRP) on Nov. 30.
Cardinal-designate Luis Antonio Tagle, archbishop of Manila; Manila Archbishop Emeritus Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, and Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints in Rome are expected to attend next week.
Fr. Fernando Rojo of the Order of St. Augustine and the chief postulator of Calungsod’s cause will also come to Cebu from Rome.
Tickets are not needed to enter the SRP, said Msgr. Dennis Villarojo, overall chairman of the Cebu celebration of Calungsod’s sainthood.
Vehicle passes will be given by parish priests starting today, he said.
“The car passes will be distributed through the parishes,” he said.
Villarojo said those who have vehicles must organize themselves into groups. Vidal said the archdiocese has allowed President Aquino to speak during the national event.
“There was a request (from the president). We allowed him but (only) after the Mass. We have to finish first the whole Mass and he will be coming in to say something to the people,” Vidal said.
The 81-year-old prelate said they do not have to tell the president what to say and what to avoid in his speech.
“He is the president,” Vidal said.
Asked what would happen if Aquino chose to talk about the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in his speech, Vidal said “bahala siya. Sinong mapapahiya? (It’s up to the president. Anyway, who would get embarrassed?)”
The Cebu Archdiocese expects 3,000 VIPs composed of 50 church dignitaries, 100 government and civil society leaders, 300 archbishops and bishops , 700 clergy members, 2,000 choir members and 200 orchestra members for the event.
Vice President Jejomar Binay will also be special guests.
Msgr. Villarojo said local government units in Cebu were invited to the national thanksgiving celebration.
“Everything is on track although not everything is finished. We still have a few things to iron out,” Villarojo said.
Around 500 to one million people are expected to attend the thanksgiving celebration.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma designated Vidal to preside over the Thanksgiving Mass.
“It is only proper because since the start of the process up to the beatification and canoniozation (of Calungsod), Cardinal Vidal has been the mover and inspirer,” he said.
Palma said the archdiocese so far collected P42 million in donations for the event.
“We will give you the report of how much we have solicited and how much we have spent,” he told reporters.
Vidal and Palma yesterday met with all the committees for the thanksgiving celebration.
The two prelates will travel to Rome this Thursday to attend the consistory of the new cardinals, including Archbishop Tagle of Manila, on Nov. 24.
They will return to Cebu next week for the thanksgiving celebration.
Last Sunday, the San Pedro Calungsod Security Task Force held a dry run for its security coverage of the site.
For his part, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said they could only provide tents as drop-in shelters for visiting devotees since there weren’t enough container vans to put up a Devotee City as what is done during the Sinulog.
“Anyway a lot of them will go straight home after the Mass. If we use container vans, a lot of them will lie around waiting for disposal,” he said.
Councilor Roberto Cabarrubias, head of the city’s Sinulog devotee city committee, said a temporary shelter may be set up at the Compania Maritima grounds beside the Malacañang sa Sugbu which the city uses for its Sinulog devotee city. /Ador Vincent Mayol, Reporter with Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac and Correspondent Chito Aragon