Top gov’t execs have close papal encounters not once but twice

MANILA, Philippines—Under sunny skies, President Benigno Aquino III led the entourage of Philippine officialdom that welcomed Pope Francis to Malacañang on Friday as head of Vatican City, the smallest state in the world.

It was the second time for Vice President Jejomar Binay, Ambassador to the Holy See Mercedes Tuason, and 24 Cabinet secretaries to see the Pope up close. They were on the reception line for the Pope’s arrival on Thursday at Villamor Air Base where the entire meet and greet with the Cabinet secretaries, cardinals and bishops took up so much time that Pope Francis was unable to see some of the children from the Parañaque City diocese perform the dance number they had prepared for him.

Some of the children were in tears because the Pope did not see their performance.

The Pontiff was given state honors at the Palace on Friday—a 21-gun salute and a parade by a battalion of cadets from the Philippine Military Academy.

Mr. Aquino and the Pope stood side by side on a low, red dais as the anthems of the Vatican and the Philippines were played. The Pope did not troop the line.

“Pope Francis! Pope Francis!” the people watching outside Malacañang called out to the Pontiff, hoping he would turn and walk toward them.

Instead, the Pope was led by Mr. Aquino to the waiting group of officials—many of whom later asked him to have their rosaries blessed.

While the dignitaries and select few gathered yesterday in a grandiose hall in Malacañang to have a rare audience with Pope Francis, hundreds of ordinary folk massed outside the Palace walls to catch a glimpse of the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

The government employees and their families on the Palace grounds on Friday had to make do with waving and smiling at the Pope.

Still, they felt blessed. Among them was Antonio Javier, who said that he prayed for the happiness and good health of his loved ones, especially for his youngest son.

Hector Javier, 28, is wheelchair-bound. Suffering from symmetrical hydrocephalus, he also has underdeveloped limbs.

But his father said Hector was aware of his surroundings and knew Pope Francis.

“Whenever Hector saw the Pope on TV, he would call me and say, ‘Pope,’” said Antonio, who has been employed at the Palace motorpool division since Hector, the youngest of five children, was born.

On the second day of his state and apostolic visit to the country, Francis has clearly cemented his rock star status among the Filipinos.

Francis arrived at the Palace grounds at 9:25 a.m., 10 minutes late, but still some 400 Malacañang employees and their families cheered and waved Philippine and Vatican flaglets the moment they heard the pealing of bells from nearby St. Jude Church signaling the arrival of His Holiness.

The crowd at the Malacañang complex was smaller than those that gathered along the routes taken by the papal convoy since Thursday—the men, women, children, babies and those on wheelchairs—but it was no less excited or enthusiastic to see Francis.

They screamed when they saw the Pope’s car inch its way out of the Palace gates to begin the convoy to the Manila Cathedral where the Pontiff officiated at his first of the Masses he was to say during his visit.

Looking visibly tired after the official Palace functions, the 78-year-old Pope perked up when he saw the people lined up to see him, cheering and waving. He smiled and waved to them as well, appearing energized by the warmth of their welcome.

Aida Sanchez, 66, made a sign of the cross after the Pope passed. “He’s holy! He’s holy!” a beaming Sanchez said, adding she was very happy and satisfied to have had the chance of seeing the Pope up close.

Francis spent about a minute to sign the Palace guest book, writing a one-sentence message as President Aquino stood to his left, watching.

“On the President and people of this beloved land of the Philippines, I ask Almighty God abundant blessings of wisdom, discernment, prosperity and peace,” Francis wrote in a small, heavy hand.

The Pope signed it simply as “Francis,” and indicated the date of his visit, “16-1-2015,”

The Pope and the President had a brief tête-a-tête where Francis drank chilled mango juice before they headed to the Rizal Ceremonial Hall where more than 400 senior government officials and the diplomatic corps waited.

As was customary, the two heads of states exchanged gifts.

President Aquino gave Francis a commemorative P50 and P500 coin bearing the image of the Pontiff.

But more special perhaps was the 61-centimeter wooden statue of Mary Undoer of Knots, to whom Pope Francis has a special devotion.

The Palace commissioned sculptor Fred Baldemor of Paete, Laguna province, to carve the Marian statue out of a piece of wood from a century-old acacia tree that was felled by Typhoon “Glenda” (international name: Rammasun) last year.

Explaining the significance of the statue, the Palace said that while the Philippines has “made marked progress over the past few years… there are still many knots to be undone.”

Pope Francis gave Mr. Aquino a facsimile of the “Nautical Atlas Urbinate Latino 283” from the Vatican Library.

The atlas, attributed to 16th-century mapmaker Bartolome Oliva, and measuring 33 by 23 centimeters, contains 14 colored nautical maps of Asia and Europe.

It was drawn by Oliva in 1562 and acquired by the Vatican Library in 1657, together with other manuscripts from the Urbinate Library, the Vatican said in a note that accompanied the Pontiff’s gift. There are only 50 copies of the map.

Other than Francis, the charismatic leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, the moment belonged to the children, who, seemingly unbound by rigid Palace protocol, managed to approach him and receive his blessing.

The Pope was only too willing and the cheers got louder, especially when Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima pulled a fast one, sneaking his child into the arms of an unsuspecting Francis.

“We are genuinely humbled by our encounter with Pope Francis,” Purisima said later.

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