The Papal visit happened this January 15-19 2015; with his theme being "Mercy and

Compassion". The Pope visited Manila; Tacloban and Palo, Leyte.

Shortly after he arrived from his Papal Visit in Sri Lanka, he was greeted by the
President and other government officials. He was welcomed at the air base by students
from Catholic schools under the Diocese of Paraaque, to my research they were
around 1200 students performing for the Popes welcoming.
At the second day of his visit he visited the Malacanang Palace. The President made a
speech on how important the church is in our countrys history. After the presidents
speech Pope Francis gave a speech of his own regarding the problematic corruption in
the Philippines today. He also added that our government must listen to the needs of
the poor.
He held a mass at Manila Cathedral with priest, bishops, nuns and seminarians. Then
the Pope gone to the SM Mall of Asia Arena to meet with families selected for the
events.
In the third day of the Papal Visit the Pope visited the Tacloban and held a mass for the
victims of Tropical storm Yolanda. I was not able to watch the mass because of our
schools film viewing happening around the same time. Ironically the Popes mass for
the victims of the tropical storm, was held on a tropical storm. After the mass the Pope
had lunch with the survivors. But his visit was cut short when signal no.2 was dropped in
Tacloban and the Vatican made the decision for the Pope to leave early.
I sadly did not watch the 4th and 5th day of the Papal visit.
Pope Francis attended a leave-taking ceremony at the Presidential Pavilion in Villamor
Air Base. Then departed Manila at around 10 am going back to the Vatican, ending his
visit here in the Philippines.
I was excited for the Papal visit because it was the first in our country in around 20
years, and first one in the new century; which to me reflects the Popes visit. Because
the Pope Francis to me is a Modernize Pope giving more importance to todays social
issues, adopting things and accepting people that otherwise would be criticize if we
were in the last century.