POPE FRANCIS TRULY STRENGTHENED US IN FAITH AND BROUGHT THE LIGHT OF CHRIST TO OUR PEOPLE By Sem. Mark Castor
Last January 15, 2015 me with my fellow seminarians attended the arrival of Pope Francis near Villamor Airbase along Domestic Road where Pope Francis will first pass to serve as human barricade with some parish volunteers alongside the policemen who are also assign to barricade the people. We arrived very early in the morning to get a parking space for our bus. And to prepare ourselves for the Pope’s arrival together with other volunteers from different Vicariates belonging to the Diocese of Parañaque. To be honest, this is not my first time to have attended a Papal event since when I was 5 years old, I attended the Papal Mass of John Paul II at Luneta yet doesn’t have the opportunity of seeing him in person. After 20 years this would be the first time that I will see the Pope in person. We know already the different testimonies of people of their feeling of seeing the Pope. They experience a tremendous burst of feeling inside them, as if there is something in the person of the Pope which really touched them. In the afternoon, when the Pope’s arrival becomes close, line up beside the concrete barricades and face to face with the police, it was already late in the afternoon and the sun had already set. We saw policemen riding on their motorbikes clearing up the road, until it was already dark. Some of my companions from the parish, saw a white bird, they thought it was a dove which gave them the conclusion that it was a sign of the Holy Spirit, because incidentally after that bird flew going to the direction of the airport, the convoy of the Pope passed in front of us. I was awestruck on what I saw people keep on shouting ‘ Kiko! Kiko!” a nickname which they gave to the Pope. I saw the Pope mobile with the Pope and two bishops besides him, I noticed one of them to be Cardinal Tagle smiling, while the Pope, waving his hand towards our direction gave a smile. I was struck by that smile, as if God is with the Pope working like what Saint Paul said