Guarding 2 popes: UST security personnel’s overwhelming encounters

By: Bong Lozada - 10 years ago

UST security personnel Joselito Pelagio has guarded both Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis during their visits in the Manila campus. Photo by: Bong Lozada/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—A stern look on his tired face, people rushing in the narrow passage. They rushed in droves just to see a 78-year-old man clad in an immaculate white robe.

The man, however, was no ordinary man. He is Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church.

Joselito Pelagio, a security guard at the University of Santo Tomas, tried in earnest to control the waves of people that passed through the small gate on Dapitan Street.

A stocky 5-foot-7 of a man, Pelagio was in control amid the massive crowd, owning the gate as if it was the passageway to Babylon.

He and several other security personnel manned the gate that the general public was given to use to enter the campus for the visit of Pope Francis.

Pelagio would make sure that amidst the noise and distractions, there would be the solemn atmosphere fitting His Holiness.

“At first, I’m tired, I’ve been here since the wee hours, but I did not feel the strain and fatigue because I just saw the Pope!” Pelagio said.

When he saw the Pontiff, who was a mere two feet away, he was not in total awe, it’s as if another person just passed by him, nonetheless it was still the Holy Father and he still felt a little bit of tinge in his emotions.

Pelagio, 41, said he was still mesmerized with the Holy Father but Francis was not the only Pope that captured his attention.

“In 1995, I was here, a security guard, when Pope John Paul II visited,” he said, smiling.

Then a young security guard, Pelagio could not prevent it and he found himself mixed in with the people who wanted to see, the now saint, Pope John Paul II during the World Youth Day.

Pelagio said that compared to Francis, John Paul looked frailer than the current Pope even though he was only 74 that time.

“He moved slowly, but with the thousands inside UST gathering for Pope John Paul II, you couldn’t help but be drawn into the singularity of emotion that enveloped the campus,” Pelagio said as he was taking a stroll.

“Compared to Pope Francis, Pope John Paul II, for me seemed more holy.”