6M expected to attend papal Mass at Luneta

MANILA, Philippines–From 4 to 6 million people are expected to attend the Eucharistic celebration to be led by Pope Francis at Quirino Grandstand in Manila on Jan. 18 next year.

The Luneta Mass will formally conclude the Pope’s apostolic visit to the country before he heads back to the Vatican the following day.

“The estimate is between four and six million people in Luneta … We are expecting streets and roads to be filled with people,” Ambassador Marciano Paynor, a member of the papal visit central committee, said in a post on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website.

Paynor said the estimate did not include “curious” people who would line up the streets of Manila during the papal motorcade and those who would attend another Mass near the Tacloban City airport in Leyte province.

The former Philippine ambassador to Israel, who helped arranged Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1995, said one of the challenges facing the organizers was the crowd expected to force their way close to the Pontiff, putting his safety at risk.

Paynor has appealed to the public to avoid a “people surge” toward the Pope to allow him to keep his schedule.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa assured the public that the government was making the necessary preparations to ensure the safety of the Pontiff while he is in the country.

“I think everybody knows Luneta can accommodate millions so we expect that it will be fully occupied. Also the roads leading to Luneta I think will be crowded,” Ochoa said in a press briefing last week.

“We expect a lot of people. In the Visayas, particularly in Tacloban and Palo, we also expect a lot of people because those are populated areas and there are a lot of devotees there. We don’t have an exact figure but we are prepared based on the estimates that we have.”

Spiritual transformation

The last papal visit to the Philippines, that of Pope John Paul II in 1995, attracted around 5 million people—“the largest papal crowd in history”—according to the Guinness World records.

Themed “Mercy and Compassion,” Pope Francis’ apostolic visit to the Philippines from Jan. 15 to 19 is a rare event which local Church officials predict will give Filipino Catholics a much-needed spiritual transformation.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle would not want to give an estimate on the number of people expected to attend the Luneta Mass. He, however, urged the faithful, including those who would not be able to go to the areas to be visited by the Pope, to prepare spiritually for the visit.

By invitation only

The Manila Cathedral rector, Msgr. Nestor Cerbo, said Church officials were considering all aspects in preparing for Francis’ visit.

The Pontiff is scheduled to deliver a homily during Mass at the cathedral in Intramuros on Jan. 16, the second day of the visit. Expected to attend the Mass are bishops, priests and religious women and men.

Citing the cramped space at the cathedral, organizers have decided to make the papal Mass a “by invitation only” event, limiting the number of guests to 10 priests and 5 religious sisters per diocese.

Video walls

Cerbo said the organizers were thinking of setting up video walls outside the cathedral, which can only accommodate some 2,000 people.

Francis will celebrate Mass in Latin but the responses will be in English. He will also speak in English when he addresses the people.

In Filipino dialects

The Argentinian Pope speaks six languages—Spanish, Italian, Latin, French, German and English. He spoke in English during his recent visit to South Korea.

Cerbo said either the songs or the prayers of the faithful during the Eucharistic celebration in Manila Cathedral might be delivered in Filipino dialects.

Apart from the Masses at Luneta and in Manila Cathedral, the Holy Father will also celebrate Mass in Tacloban.

Originally posted: 10:44 PM | Tuesday, November 18th, 2014