Pope eyed to grace Cebu event in 2021
Pope Francis, the King of Spain, and leaders of the so-called “Magellanic” countries will be invited to come over to Cebu in 2021 for the fifth centennial celebration of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines.
Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Jaime Florencio yesterday confirmed that the papal invitation was discussed during previous meetings of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
“As far as I can remember, there was discussion on the CBCP level. Perhaps there are initial plans on the level of those committees involved. However, there is nothing definite about it yet,” he told The FREEMAN in a text message.
Joaquin Rodriguez, chairperson of Filipinas Quinto Centenarios, said preparatory activities are now underway to mark the important occasion.
“We’ve been working hard in Manila for this event, but this cannot succeed without Cebu. The epicenter and focal point of all these events is Cebu,” he told reporters after a closed-door meeting with officials of the Cebu provincial government yesterday.
Rodriguez said it is going to be a three-year celebration with the highlights being “hopefully the coming of the Pope and the King of Spain.”
The three years, he added, represent the period of time when Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan began his circumnavigation of the globe in 1519 until the time he and Augustinian missionaries arrived in the Philippines in 1521.
Cebu Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, in a separate interview, said an executive committee called the Sugbo Quenscentenario Commission has been created to oversee the preparations. The body is cochaired by Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III and Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
Magpale revealed that part of the plans is to hold a summit that will revisit the places visited by Magellan.
There will also be a commemoration of the first Mass, the first baptism, and the arrival of the image of the Sto. Niño which Magellan gifted to Cebu’s Queen Juana (Humamay) in 1521.
Magpale said the big event in 2021 is expected to drum up the province’s faith tourism campaign.
On the part of the Philippine Catholic Church, meanwhile, preparations to remember the coming of Christianity in the country started already in 2012.
According to a CBCP News article, then-pope Benedict XVI pointed to a need to “rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ.”
“For the Philippines, this rediscovery of faith will go way back to 1521 with the baptism of the first converts—Rajah Humabon, Rajah Kolambu, and 400 other Filipino locals,” the article read.
“Notwithstanding disputes over its exact location, the first Mass in the Philippines was verified to be celebrated in 1521 as well,” it added.