Vatican City, 17 January 2015 (VIS) –
On his second day in the Philippines, the Pope transferred by car
from the apostolic nunciature of Manila to the Villamor Air Base to
depart for Tacloban on the island of Leyte. The papal aircraft took
off forty-five minutes before the scheduled time in order to bring
forward his visit in view of a tropical storm approaching the coast.
Fourteen months ago, on the morning of 8 November 2013, the area was
devastated by typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), which left more than ten
thousand victims in its wake and razed all buildings to the ground,
including the airport of the city where Francis arrived today.
After an informal welcome from
Archbishop John F. Du of Palo and the mayors of Tacloban and Palo,
the Pope made the 600-metre journey by Popemobile to an esplanade
able to hold half a million people, where he celebrated Mass despite
the strong wind and rain. Francis gave the following off-the-cuff
homily in Spanish.
“In the first reading, we heard that
we have a great priest capable of sympathizing with our weakness, who
in every respect has been tempted as we are. Jesus is like us. Jesus
lived as we do. He is like us in everything. In everything but sin,
for he was not a sinner. But to be even more like us, he took upon
himself our sins. He became sin! This is what Paul tells us, and it
was something that he knew well. Jesus goes before us always; when we
experience any kind of cross, he was already there before us.
“If today all of us are gathered
here, fourteen months after the passage of Typhoon Yolanda, it is
because we are certain that we will not be disappointed in our faith,
for Jesus has gone before us. In his passion He took upon himself all
of our sorrows, and – let me tell you something personal – when I
witnessed his disaster from Rome, I felt that I had to be here. That
is when I decided to come here. I wanted to come to be with you.
Maybe you will tell me that I came a little late; that is true, but
here I am.
“I am here to tell you that Jesus is
Lord; that Jesus does not disappoint. 'Father', one of you may tell
me, 'He disappointed me because I lost my house, I lost everything I
had, I am sick'. What you say is true and I respect your feelings,
but I see Him there, nailed to the cross, and from there He does not
disappoint us. He was consecrated Lord on that throne, and there He
experienced all the disasters we experience. Jesus is Lord! And He is
Lord from the cross, from there He reigned. That is why, as we heard
in the first reading, He can understand us: He became like us in
every way. So we have a Lord Who is able to weep with us, Who can be
at our side through life’s most difficult moments.
“So many of you have lost everything.
I do not know what to tell you. But surely He knows what to tell you!
So many of you have lost members of your family. I can only be
silent; I accompany you silently, with my heart.
“Many of you looked to Christ and
asked: Why, Lord? To each of you the Lord responds from His heart. I
have no other words to say to you. Let us look to Christ: He is the
Lord, and He understands us, for He experienced all the troubles we
experience.
“With him, beneath the cross, is His
Mother. We are like that child who stands down there, who, in times
of sorrow and pain, times when we understand nothing, times when we
want to rebel, can only reach out and cling to her skirts and say to
her: 'Mother!'. Like a little child who is frightened and says:
'Mother'. Perhaps that is the only word which can express all the
feelings we have in those dark moments: Mother!
“Let us be still for a moment and
look to the Lord. He can understand us, for He experienced all these
things. And let us look to our Mother, and like that little child,
let us reach out, cling to her skirts and say to her in our hearts:
'Mother'. Let us make this prayer in silence; let everyone say it
whatever way he or she feels.
“We are not alone; we have a Mother;
we have Jesus, our older brother. We are not alone. And we also have
many brothers and sisters who, when the disaster struck, came to our
assistance. We too feel more like brothers and sisters whenever we
help one another, whenever we help each other.
“This is all that I feel I have to
say to you. Forgive me if I have no other words. But be sure that
Jesus does not disappoint us; be sure that the love and tenderness of
our Mother does not disappoint us. Clinging to her as sons and
daughters with the strength which Jesus our brother gives us, let us
now move forward. As brothers and sisters, let us take up our
journey. Thank you!”
Following the Eucharistic celebration
the Pope left the island four hours before the scheduled time due to
the inclement weather conditions and the approaching category two
typhoon. He visited a house belonging to fishermen, devastated by the
2013 typhoon, and transferred rapidly to the archiepiscopal
residence, situated on a hill at the foot of which there is a home
for the elderly and orphans financed by the Pontifical Council “Cor
Unum” and blessed by the Pope today. He lunched briefly with thirty
relatives of victims of Yolanda and a number of seminarians, and
transferred to the “Pope Francis Centre for the Poor”, which he
blessed from the Popemobile. He proceeded directly to the Cathedral
of Palo where a meeting was scheduled with bishops, priests,
religious, seminarians and survivors of the typhoon, and explained to
them that the adverse weather conditions would not permit the meeting
to go ahead.
“We have just enough time to get to
the aeroplane, since the forecasts tell us that the weather will
worsen”, he said. “I apologise to all of you. I am so sorry about
this, as I had something especially prepared for you. Let us leave
everything in the hands of our Lady, as I have to leave now”.
He then transferred to the airport,
again by Popemobile to enable him to greet as many people as
possible. Finally, the papal aircraft departed for Manila and landed
at the Villamor Air Base at 3 p.m. local time. From there, the Pope
proceeded to the apostolic nunciature, greeting the faithful along
the way.
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