MANILA — Pope Francis would not be coming back to the country in January next year, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines announced yesterday.
“It is certain that Pope Francis is not coming to the country for the IEC,” re-elected CBCP president Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said.
He added that the Pope will be sending a papal legate to the 51st International Eucharist Congress (IEC) in Cebu from Jan. 24 to 31.
“He will just send a papal legate, a papal envoy… while he (Pope Francis) did not say that he is coming, but sending a papal legate is almost saying that ‘I will be there’. That is important because he said he will send an envoy,” Villegas added.
Villegas said that it would be unfair for the country to insist since the Pope already visited the Philippines last Jan. 15-19.
The Pope met with President Aquino and attended the youth gathering at the University of Santo Tomas.
He also made an unexpected visit to an orphanage beside the Manila Cathedral and held mass at the Quirino Grandstand.
The Pope also addressed the victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban City and Leyte when he said mass in an open area beside the Tacloban airport.
“It would be unfair to the other countries if he is coming again… If we insist, we would appear to be selfish because he would have lesser time to visit other countries. It would be a waste of opportunity because people from other countries would not be able to see him,” Villegas said.