Aonuevo, Ivy Katrina M.

LM2A

Pope Francis Papal Visit last January 15 to 19, 2015 made an impact to the Filipinos,
especially his words during the Family encounter at the Mall Of Asia Arena, Pasay City and the
youth encounter at the University of Santo Tomas. And also his homilies and speeches at his
three masses, the first was held at the Manila Cathedral, second was at Tacloban, and the last one
was at the Quirino Grandstand. During his first mass at the Manila Cathedral with the bishops,
priests and religious he talked about being ambassadors for Christ, which they were ought to be
the first to welcome his reconciling grace into our hearts. Proclaim the beauty and truth of the
Christian message to a society which is tempted by confusing presentations of sexuality,
marriage and the family. On his second mass Pope Francis talked about the catastrophe
(Yolanda), he said that when he saw from Rome what happened here, he felt that he had to be
here. People have lost so many things, their houses, livelihood, and even family members. But he
have come to tell people that Jesus is Lord and He never lets us down. Jesus have been through
everything and knows what we feel. We are not alone. On the popes concluding mass at the
Quirino Grandstand he talked about what the Santo Nio tells us, that we are all Gods children
and members of Gods family. But because of trials we forget to remain focused on the things
that really matter. We forget to remain, at heart, children of God. We too need to protect, guide
and encourage the young people, helping them to build a society worthy of their great spiritual
and cultural heritage. Specifically, we need to see each child as a gift to be welcomed, cherished
and protected.
I was happy, first and foremost, that I was able to witness the popes kindness and
generosity by visiting our country. He made a difference to everyoneordinary people,
politicians, Catholics, members of other religions, non-believers, gays, etc. He was not the usual
pope I was expecting. He embraced everyone, even those who dont believe in God. He accepted
the gays which the traditional priests in society wouldnt accept. I can say that his presence in
our country really made an impact in the way Filipinos live. I admit I was a bit apprehensive on
the popes visit because of the media, Im afraid that people would forget the purposes of his
visit, one of those is to share God, His love, mercy and compassion. I feared that his visit would
just be a fanfare because of so much media use, but I guess those are just the effects of being a
popular and well-liked Pope. Nevertheless, Pope Francis is indeed an inspiring person and very
genuine. His ways were so simple but they went straight to the heart. He showed us he was
human. Human enough to get scared but still entrust his life upon Gods hands. He does get tired,
but he continues on to reach out to those who just need a little hope in their lives. He isnt afraid
to make a fool of himself through his jokes. He is humble enough to admit that he does not know
everything and that sometimes he can offer no words, just prayers. He is just like us. People who
have trials but have faith. I witnessed the faith and cooperation of Filipinos during his visit. I just
hope that even the pope is not here, we would continue to live as well as this. In one of his
homilies he mentioned about being ambassadors for Christ and we are all Gods children, we
should never forget that, and if someone does, remind them and show them that they are part of

Gods family, that they are not alone. After all, the pope will be leaving us, but Jesus will always
be with us.