Before a record crowd of between six and seven million people Pope Francis entrusted a double mission to the Philippine Church at his last public mass in this country on Sunday January 18 that included both a domestic and an Asian component At the domestic level he encouraged them to work for jus
The wind was blowing increasingly strong the tepid rain was falling steadily as Pope Francis wearing a yellow plastic poncho assured some 300 000 survivors of the worst typhoon in history that Jesus is always with them in the midst of all their sufferings he understands what they are undergoin
Pope Francis didn rsquo t mince his words when he addressed the state authorities and church leaders of the Philippines He called on them to combat and eliminate ldquo the scandalous rdquo social inequalities and injustices as well as the corruption that is widespread in this land where more th
Manila came to a standstill Thursday evening Jan 15 as some two million people young and old ran out onto the streets and malls of this metropolis of 10 million inhabitants singing and dancing to welcome ldquo Papa Francisco rdquo It was but the beginning of a four-day lsquo fiesta rsquo
Serra is known today as the “Apostle of California,” having built in the late 18th century a network of 21 missions that stretched the entire southern half of the state from San Diego to San Francisco.