‘Where Pope John Paul II goes, best things will be’

The shrine commemorating the Mass that Pope John Paul II celebrated there in 1981 is now the pride of Morong, Bataan. It features a statue of the much-loved Pontiff, to be known as Blessed John Paul II after his beatification on May 1.

MORONG, Bataan, Philippines—Devout Catholics Nieva Francisco, 72, and Fely Loyola, 61, can hardly contain their excitement over two much-anticipated events in the first two days of May.

On May 1, the elaborate beatification rites for the late Pope John Paul II will have been completed at the Vatican, the last major step before canonization or sainthood for the much-loved Pontiff, following which he can be publicly venerated with the title of “Blessed.”

Loyola and Francisco were part of the huge crowd of Indochinese refugees and Filipinos who gathered at the Philippine Refugee Processing Center (PRPC) here for the Mass that John Paul celebrated on Feb. 21, 1981.

On May 2, a shrine commemorating that 1981 papal event will be inaugurated, a joint project of the Diocese of Balanga and the state-owned Bataan Technology Park (BTP), which has taken over the refugee center site, 365 hectares of hilly terrain overlooking the South China Sea.

The centerpiece of the new shrine is a statue depicting Pope John Paul II on a boat with a refugee. It was executed by Laguna sculptor Conrado Balubayan, 66, who was commissioned by retired Commodore Amado Sanglay, vice president and chief operating officer of the BTP.

“The world is so big but it was here that he chose to celebrate Mass,” said Francisco who happily exchanged stories of the 1981 event with Loyola.

<strong>Townsfolk’s recollections</strong>

Some 30 years ago, Francisco was the town’s rural midwife. Loyola, who was then working for Caritas, was a teacher of English to the Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian refugees at the center.

Loyola said she managed to get near the Pope and hold his hand.

“The Mass was in English and the Pope embraced Laotians, Vietnamese, Cambodians,” she recalled.

Francisco recalled that the Pope told the faithful to pray the Rosary before releasing doves and white balloons.

Msgr. Victor Ocampo, who was just three years in the priesthood in 1981 and one of the priests who concelebrated the papal Mass, said the Pope urged the refugees to “have faith in God’s love.”

<Local boys named John Paul</strong>

Ocampo said the Pope also thanked the Philippines and the Filipino people for offering a humanitarian haven to the thousands of refugees from the Vietnam War.

“That love is seen by the love of this country, by the United Nations and the acts of people. God is taking care of you,” the Pope said, speaking from a “papal stage” fashioned out of woven bamboo at the center’s parade grounds.

Ocampo said the late Jaime Cardinal Sin, the then Archbishop of Manila, accompanied the Pope to the Morong event. So did then First Lady Imelda Marcos, as shown by an old photograph.

Loyola said the Pope must have left a good impression on the locals because many newborn boys were christened “John Paul” at the time.

Classes and work in the town’s offices, including the construction of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, 10 km south of Morong, were canceled, longtime residents here recalled.

According to Loyola, the Pope’s visit reinforced her faith. “My faith as a Catholic was strengthened,” she said.

<strong>Countdown begins March 1</strong>

In the run-up to the April-30 to May 1 beatification event in Rome, excitement is building up in this coastal town of about 27,000.

The Our Lady of Pillar Parish began a countdown on March 1, said Fr. Fernando Loreto, the town’s parish priest. A novena is said every day at 4:30 p.m. in the parish in Barangay (village) Poblacion, which Loyola and Francisco attend without fail.

Fely Florendo, 66, has been searching among her things for mementos of the 1981 event. Loreto has found the commemorative magazine, “Totus Tuus,” and received photographs of the occasion from old folks.

Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos said the concept of the shrine began with Loreto who discussed the significance of the PRPC to the Pope’s journeys in the Philippines with Sanglay.

Loreto believed that of the 20 communities visited by John Paul in 1981, Morong is the only one that is putting up a shrine to commemorate the event.

Work on the memorial, a joint undertaking of the Diocese of Balanga and the BTP, which is being developed into an eco-tourism destination, began last January.

<strong>Statue damaged</strong>

However, the 500-kg concrete statue that is the centerpiece of the shrine was damaged last Saturday when the jeepney carrying it made a sudden stop. The incident occurred in Makati at 4 a.m., said Balubayan.

A slab on the flap of the Pope’s robe was broken, as well as the right hand.

But Balubayan said the repairs will be finished Sunday.

Loreto said a very touching message in the 1981 papal visit remains true to this day. “Where the Pope goes, the best things will be,” he said.

“This is a prophetic message for us in Morong. The papal visit is the pride of Morong,” said Loreto.

<strong>Symbolic location</strong>

Putting up a shrine in the same location is symbolic of the Philippines’ love and reverence for the late pontiff, according to Sanglay in an interview with the CBCP News, the official news service of the Church hierarchy.

“Pope John Paul II loved our country and he will remain and be remembered in the hearts and minds of the people,” he said.

The shrine will stand beside other sacred temples and monuments built by the refugees who once lived at the center.

The shrine is also meant to serve as a “vehicle for uplifting the moral, religious and spiritual life of the Filipinos,” said Sanglay.

<strong>Most traveled Pontiff</strong>

A gifted man of letters, poet, playwright, philosopher and intellectual giant, John Paul led the Catholic Church for almost 27 years.

He was the most traveled pontiff, visiting 129 countries—including two visits to the Philippines—during his papacy, proclaiming the unchanging Christian message.

His second visit to the Philippines, during the Manila World Youth Day in 1995, attracted a crowd of about five million, reportedly one of the largest Christian assemblies.

His death on April 2, 2005, prompted a global outpouring of grief and demands that he be made a saint on the spot.

Pope Benedict XVI affirmed the judgment of Vatican medical experts and theologians that a French nun’s neurological disorder had been miraculously cured after she prayed to the memory of John Paul in June 2005.

The nun, Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre, whose inexplicable cure for Parkinson’s disease was the miracle needed for beatification, will speak about her experience at the event.

<strong>Second miracle needed</strong>

Some 300,000 pilgrims are expected to flock to Rome for the three-day, around-the-clock beatification event (April 30 to May 1), during which St. Peter’s Basilica will remain open well into the night to accommodate the faithful who will want to pray before John Paul’s tomb.—<strong><em>With Jocelyn R. Uy</em></strong>