Pope Francis greets Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle at Rizal Park, in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015. AP
MANILA, Philippines — The five-day apostolic and state visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines, Asia’s biggest Catholic nation, was “full of surprises.”
“There were many surprises. I’m sure you have witnessed it. You have witnessed how he did not read the prepared homilies—one surprise—his homily from the heart, and I think that’s something that moved us, all of us in his speeches,” Bishop Mylo Vergara, the head of the Communications Committee of the Philippines Bishop Conference, said at a conference on Monday after Pope Francis returned to Rome.
In his event at the Mall of Asia Arena for “Encounter With the Families,” the Pope delivered an impromptu address before thousands of attendees.
In Leyte, his homily was spoken from the heart instead of his prepared homily, which left thousands of Super Typhoon Yolanda survivors emotional.
At the University of Santo Tomas, he also discarded his prepared remarks.
Vergara also noted the event in Tacloban, the main mission of Pope Francis’ visit, was also marked by surprise. It was cut short for a few hours due to a storm.
“You also saw what happened in Tacloban. The surprise of perhaps starting everything early abbreviating everything but still the Pope going through all the events. He did all the events,” he said.
“I think it’s also a first that he wore a raincoat and that was a very powerful image because if you saw it in social media, even in the newspapers, you saw him as one with us,” Vergara added.
Pope Francis had to wear a yellow poncho throughout his visit in Leyte because of the stormy weather.
During his motorcade in Manila on Sunday, he also wore the same raincoat due to the nonstop rains.
“And that was his intention even before coming here: he wanted to be one with us in mercy and compassion. So, you can add to that. I’m sure that indeed the Pope is a pope of surprises but God also surprised him,” Vergara said.