Pope Francis in the Philippines (8 page)

Dear
priests
and
religious
,
dear
families
and
friends
,
in
this
Cathedral
of
the
Transfiguration
of
the
Lord
let
us
ask
that
our
lives
continue
to
be
sustained
and
transfigured
by
the
power
of
his
resurrection
.
I
commend
all
of
you
to
the
loving
protection
of
Mary
,
Mother
of
the
Church
.
May
she
obtain
for
you
,
and
for
all
the
beloved
people
of
these
lands
,
the
Lord
’
s
blessings
of
comfort
,
joy
and
peace
.
God
bless
you
all
!

Dear
Young
Friends
,

When
I
speak
spontaneously
I
do
it
in
Spanish
,
because
I
don
’
t
know
the
English
language
.
May
I
do
it
?
Thank
you
very
much
.
This
Fr
Mark
,
a
good
translator
.

(
As
translated
from
Spanish
by
Msgr
Mark
Gerard
Miles
)

First
of
all
,
a
sad
piece
of
news
.
Yesterday
,
as
Mass
was
about
to
start
,
a
piece
of
scaffolding
fell
and
,
upon
falling
,
hit
a
young
woman
who
was
working
in
the
area
and
she
died
.
Her
name
is
Kristel
.
She
worked
for
the
organization
preparing
for
that
Mass
.
She
was
27
years
old
,
young
like
yourselves
.
She
worked
for
Catholic
Relief
Services
as
a
volunteer
.
I
would
like
all
of
you
who
are
young
like
her
to
pray
for
a
moment
in
silence
with
me
and
then
we
will
pray
to
Our
Mother
in
Heaven
.
Let
us
pray
.

Leads
prayer
of
Hail
Mary
…

Let
us
also
pray
for
her
parents
.
She
was
an
only
child
.
Her
mother
is
coming
from
Hong
Kong
and
her
father
is
here
in
Manila
.

Leads
prayer
of
Our
Father
…

It
is
a
joy
for
me
to
be
with
you
this
morning
.
I
greet
each
of
you
from
the
heart
,
and
I
thank
all
those
who
made
this
meeting
possible
.
During
my
visit
to
the
Philippines
,
I
wanted
in
a
particular
way
to
meet
with
young
people
,
to
listen
to
you
and
to
talk
with
you
.
I
want
to
express
the
love
and
the
hopes
of
the
Church
for
you
.
And
I
want
to
encourage
you
,
as
Christian
citizens
of
this
country
,
to
offer
yourselves
passionately
and
honestly
to
the
great
work
of
renewing
your
society
and
helping
to
build
a
better
world
.

In
a
special
way
,
I
thank
the
young
people
who
have
offered
words
of
welcome
to
me
.

To
Jun
and
Leandro
Santos
II
and
to
Rikki
,
thank
you
very
much
.
There
’
s
only
a
very
small
representation
of
girls
among
you
.
Too
little
.
Women
have
much
to
tell
us
in
today
’
s
society
.
Sometimes
we
are
too
“
machistas
”
and
we
don
’
t
allow
enough
space
to
women
.
But
women
can
see
things
from
a
different
angle
to
us
,
with
a
different
eye
.
Women
are
able
to
pose
questions
we
men
are
unable
to
understand
.
Look
out
for
this
fact
:
she
is
the
only
one
who
has
put
a
question
for
which
there
is
no
answer
.
She
couldn
’
t
put
it
into
words
but
expressed
it
with
tears
.
So
when
the
next
pope
comes
to
Manila
,
please
let
there
be
more
girls
.

I
thank
you
Jun
for
talking
about
your
experience
so
bravely
.
As
I
said
,
the
heart
of
your
question
has
no
reply
.
Only
when
we
too
can
cry
about
the
things
you
said
can
we
come
close
to
answering
that
question
.
Why
do
children
suffer
so
much
?
Why
do
children
suffer
?
When
the
heart
is
able
to
ask
itself
and
weep
,
then
we
can
understand
something
.
There
is
a
worldly
compassion
which
is
useless
.
You
expressed
something
like
this
.
It
’
s
a
compassion
that
makes
us
put
our
hands
in
our
pockets
and
give
something
to
the
poor
.
But
if
Christ
had
had
that
kind
of
compassion
he
would
have
greeted
a
couple
of
people
,
given
them
something
,
and
walked
on
.
But
it
was
only
when
he
was
able
to
cry
that
he
understood
something
of
our
lives
.
Dear
young
boys
and
girls
,
today
’
s
world
doesn
’
t
know
how
to
cry
.
The
emarginated
people
,
those
left
to
one
side
,
are
crying
.
Those
who
are
discarded
are
crying
.
But
we
don
’
t
understand
much
about
these
people
in
need
.
Certain
realities
of
life
we
only
see
through
eyes
cleansed
by
our
tears
.
I
invite
each
one
here
to
ask
yourself
:
have
I
learned
how
to
weep
?
Have
I
learned
how
to
weep
for
the
emarginated
or
for
a
street
child
who
has
a
drug
problem
or
for
an
abused
child
?
Unfortunately
there
are
those
who
cry
because
they
want
something
else
.