Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle. AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle has designated five churches in Metro Manila as “Pilgrim Churches” as Catholics mark the “Year of Faith” decreed last year by the now resigned Pope Benedict XVI, according to the Archdiocese of Manila.
In a post on its website, the archdiocese said pilgrims visiting these churches may receive plenary indulgences according to the prescribed norms – “going to confession and receiving Holy Communion and praying for the Pope the Apostles Creed, Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.”
The archdiocese also said that they should also have special programs for pilgrims on the Year of Faith.
These churches should “make readily available to the people of God of the Archdiocese of Manila the graces and summons of the Year of Faith as enunciated (by Benedict XVI),” Tagle said.
The five churches are Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Plaza Miranda, Quiapo, Manila; Saint John the Baptist Parish on Pinaglabanan Street, San Juan City; Our Lady of Sorrows Parish on F.B. Harrison Street, Pasay City; the Archdiocesan Shrine of Divine Mercy at Maysilo Circle, Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong City; and the National Shrine of the Sacred Heart on Sacred Heart Street, San Antonio Village, Makati City.
Benedict XVI opened the Year of Faith in October “to give renewed energy to the Church’s mission to lead men and women out of the desert in which they so often find themselves, and towards the place of life, towards friendship with Christ Who gives us life in all its fullness.”