Pope to celebrate Mass with compatriot

Pope Francis. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—An Argentinian missionary serving in the Philippines will be among the priests who will celebrate Mass with his famous compatriot, Pope Francis, during the latter’s visit to the Philippines in January next year.

Fr. Luciano Felloni, a priest based in the Novaliches diocese’s Holy Trinity Parish, said that while he had personally met then Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio in Argentina, he still looks forward to celebrating the Holy Eucharist with him now that he is the much-respected, well-loved Vicar of Christ.

“I hope to see him again personally. I met him years back when he was still an ordinary priest. I would like to see him closer again this time,” Felloni said in a post on the www.papalvisit.ph, the official website for Pope Francis’ visit.

“He is my kababayan. I met him because we used to live in one neighborhood for three years. I confessed to him many times. I was also among those who had attended a recollection he gave when he was still an ordinary priest,” the prelate added.

Themed “Mercy and Compassion,” Pope Francis’ apostolic visit to the Philippines on Jan. 15 to 19, 2015, is a rare event which local Church officials expect will give Filipino Catholics a much-needed spiritual renewal.

The Holy Father will celebrate Masses in Tacloban City and at the Manila Cathedral and in Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

When Pope Francis visits the Archdiocese of Palo in Palo town, Leyte, in January, he will be welcomed with a song that speaks of the sentiments of the Supertyphoon “Yolanda” survivors who long for God’s embrace.

Titled “Shepherd’s Love,” the song also reflects the survivors’ positive outlook in spite of the massive devastation and enormous death toll caused by Yolanda a year ago, according to Fr. Kim Margallo, director of the Archdiocese of Palo’s Commission on Youth who composed the papal visit theme song.

Asked what inspired him to write the song, Margallo said: “The song should be an image of a child waiting for his father to arrive, a child who longs to tell his father everything that had happened to him. He is full of confidence that his father will come so soon to rescue and protect him, for he believes that his father is rich in mercy and full of compassion.”

“Yolanda was not a curse, but it is also a blessing to all and did not only bring destruction but also inspiration,” Margallo said in a post on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines website.

“‘Shepherd’s Love’ is festive in the initial part, has sadness because of the tragedy, excitement in expectation of somebody important, horror so that those who will listen to it will have the experience of what I call the wailing of the wind, the monstrous surge and the lamentation of the victims, and lastly, the feeling of hope amidst hopelessness,” he said.