For folks who can’t get near Pope, selfie with cardboard enough

CHURCHES nationwide, like this one in the province of Cebu, have placed cardboard images of Pope Francis for people to take selfies with in the hope of preventing people from rushing the Pope for selfies during his visit. CEBU DAILY NEWS

She may never have a chance to meet Pope Francis during his visit to the country next week, but 69-year-old Aster Obal says she feels the presence of the Catholic world’s top leader whenever she poses for a selfie beside a life-size cutout of him in Legazpi City.

“It feels great, actually I’m having hard time finding a word to explain my feelings,” says Obal, a retired elementary schoolteacher in Camalig town in Albay province. “The truth is I really feel that I’m with him.”

On Tuesday morning, the woman went to the compound of St. Gregory the Great Cathedral in Legazpi’s Old Albay District to buy a 2015 calendar at a bookstore selling religious items. She was surprised when she saw the cardboard figure of the Pope at the chancery building and lost no time in having her picture taken with the “standee.”

Francis will arrive in Manila on Jan. 15 and will stay for five days. His itinerary includes meetings with the faithful, families and Church leaders and lunch with typhoon survivors in Leyte province.

Bishop Joel Baylon of the Diocese of Legazpi said the papal figure was placed at the cathedral so the people could have photo opportunities with him. It stands temporarily at the multimedia office of the chancery

on the western part of the cathedral compound in Barangay (village) Cabugao, across City Hall.

“Somehow, the devotee will have a [feel of the] presence of the Pope that he’s around even if he’s not visiting the Bicol region,” Baylon said.

Albay has a Roman Catholic population of 1,274,612 as of 2012, said Fr. Paul Rene Ocfemia, secretary of the chancery, citing Church records. The Legazpi diocese has 133 priests serving 47 parishes in 15 municipalities and three cities.

John Angelo de Dios Ortiz, 27, a resident of Tabaco City, who has cerebral palsy but made a Madonna Dolorosa cross-stitch work using his feet, will be able to meet the Pope up close and personal on Jan. 16 during an encounter with families at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

He and his father, Edgar, 56, would be seated in front so he could personally give his present to the Pontiff.

“Through Ortiz, those of us here in Legazpi City could feel being near the Pope, that we could also kiss the Pope and express to him our heartfelt gratitude for being the shepherd and father of the Church,” Baylon said.

Ortiz was born premature on Feb. 27, 1987, and was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy. His parents, Edgar and Herminia, 60, own a fashion jewelry business. He has a brother, John Carlo, 28, and a sister, Cathy, 25.

Though a wheelchair user since childhood, Ortiz went to school and graduated from Special Education Center of San Lorenzo High School in Tabaco. He showed interest in cross-stitching when he was in Grade 6 and was encouraged by his cousin, Maria Theresa de Dios Laco, to cross-stitch by foot.

Laco said Ortiz’s works progressed from simple, small patterns to pictures of dogs and cartoon characters. He shifted to religious characters, particularly images of saints and angels, she added.

Maritess Majarlino, manager of Word of Life bookstore inside St. Gregory the Great Cathedral, said souvenirs on the Pope had been selling briskly.

“The 2015 calendars with the Pope’s face were also selling like hotcakes as with the white

T-shirts with three designs on the papal visit,” Majarlino said.

She added that the books on Francis were also being bought as well as the small religious pictures or “estampita” with the national prayer for the papal visit.

Baylon said he expected devotees to flock to the cathedral in the succeeding days.

It may just be Francis’ figure beside her, but Obal says she will try her very best to see him in Manila, struck by his aura of humility.

“It will happen if it is according to God’s will,” she says. With a report from April Mier