Pope’s envoy: Cebu inmates’ dance in the rain a ‘love letter’ to all

Update 3

CEBU CITY – It was a rainy afternoon but it didn’t stop the Cebu dancing inmates to show their “love letter” to the world.

More than eight hundred inmates in orange and yellow shirts danced      in the rain    to the popular tune of Michael’s Jackson’s “They don’t care about us.”

The inmates from the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) also performed the theme song of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC).

Papal legate Charles Maung Cardinal Bo of Yangon, Myanmar personally witnessed the performance of the famous dancing inmates.

“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass but it is about learning to dance in the rain. Yes you have learned to dance in the rain,” Cardinal Bo told hundreds of inmates inside the Cebu provincial jail.

The papal legate appreciated the inmates’ performance, adding: “I am moved by the context in which your dance was created.”

“Your dance is a beautiful love letter directly straight to the hearts of all of us,” he said.

The papal legate told the inmates not to “never give up” while in detention, adding that the Eucharist was about hope.

“Jesus was a prisoner. He had his inner storms,” he said.

He urged the inmates to pray for one another as well as their loved ones.

On behalf of the Catholic faithful, Cardinal Bo said he would pray for every inmate at the Cebu penitentiary.

“I love you and I will pray for you,” he said in Cebuano.

After his short message, Cardinal Bo went down from the stage and met with the prisoners. Some inmates were moved that they even shed tears after they were blessed by the papal legate.

Even the rain didn’t stop the famous Cebu dancing inmates to perform before Papal legate Charles Maung Cardinal Bo on Tuesday afternoon. Nestor Corrales/INQUIRER.net