It is indeed a great joy and an immense privilege for me as your Apostolic Nuncio to be here with all of you today in Cebu to commemorate the First Baptism and the Gifting of the image of the Santo Niño to Queen Juana, which took place 500 years ago today on April 14, 1521.
In the name of our Holy Father Pope Francis, a Blessed and Happy Easter to all of you, brothers and sisters in the Risen Lord!
Below is the full text of Pope Francis’ address during the Urbi et Orbi blessing he delivered after his Easter Sunday Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica:
I am happy to be able to join you, through this video message, in the celebration of the 5th centenary of the beginning of evangelization in the Philippines.
The Gospel shows us a change of heart among the people who were listening to the Lord. The change was dramatic, and it reveals the extent to which persecution and the cross are linked to the proclamation of the Gospel.
One of our priests in Pampanga was telling me the other day about a young deacon in the archdiocese, whose mother was rushed to the hospital because of severe Covid symptoms.
Every year this liturgy leaves us amazed: we pass from the joy of welcoming Jesus as he enters Jerusalem to the sorrow of watching him condemned to death and then crucified.
In our taping of the episode of our Sunday Gospel talk show, “Men of Light” for Palm Sunday, my cohost, Fr. Deo Galang called our attention to what he called the “little acts of kindness” on the way to Golgotha.
Dear priests, religious and lay faithful of the Pontificio Collegio Filippino de Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje,
Here is the full text of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle’s message at the end of Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the 500th anniversary of Christianity in the Philippines:
Here is the full text of Pope Francis’ homily during Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines on March 14, 2021:
Dear brothers and sisters, This blessed place brings us back to our origins, to the sources of God’s work, to the birth of our religions.
