Pope
Francis will arrive in Manila on Thursday, January 15, at 5:45 pm. President
Benigno Aquino III will welcome the pontiff to the predominantly Catholic
nation. On Wednesday, Francis gave Sri Lanka its first saint, a climax to a 300-year
campaign to recognise the holiness of Indian-born missionary Joseph Vaz.
On his
last night in Sri Lanka, the Pope known for surprises made an unannounced visit
at Colombo's Mahabodhi temple, A Buddhist Temple to meet Banagila Upatissa, a
Buddhist leader who had invited him when they met on Tuesday at an
inter-religious meeting.
Francis,
who has made inter-religious dialogue a plank of his papacy, has already been
to mosques during trips to Istanbul and Jerusalem. This is only the second time
a Pope made a visit to a Buddhist temple since Pope John Paul II while on a
trip to Thailand in 1984.
Pilgrims
are already gathered in hopes of getting a blessing from Francis at Quirino
Avenue near the Papal Nunciature, the residence of the Vatican's ambassador to
Manila where the Pope will be staying
He will be
in Philippines for 5 days.
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