Church Confident of 100,000 Papal Mass Attendees from Leyte

Tacloban City (PNA) -– The Archdiocese of Palo is expecting about 100,000 pilgrims from Leyte that will attend the open air mass at the airport here as the police agreed to soften security rules.

As of Tuesday morning, there are more than 70,000 Roman Catholics from 78 parishes that registered as mass attendees on Saturday morning.

The extended registration ended last night to give time for the archdiocese to produce new identification cards.

“We are confident of registering about 100,000 pilgrims because last minute registration is a habit among Filipinos,” said Fr. Amadeo Alvero, Archdiocese of Palo social communications director.

The church expects at least 11,000 attendees from other provinces.

Earlier, the Church asked local government officials to facilitate the registration process and partly shoulder food and transportation expenses of attendees.

Hundreds of volunteers were mobilized to assist the extended registration.

The archdiocese had set the Dec. 29, 2014 deadline for registration, but only 25,000 have listed themselves as mass attendees.

The low turnout prompted the Church to extend the deadline and ask the police to soften some security rules.

“I told the police not to prevent someone who has no identification cards from entering the airport apron for as long as there are still space available and they’re not carrying deadly weapons,” said Palo Archbishop John F. Du.

Aside from deadly weapons, authorities prohibited mass attendees from bringing non-transparent bags, umbrellas, and bottled drinks. Some pilgrims will have to be inside the mass site for as early as 15 hours before the mass starts.

“Even if it’s difficult, we have to come since it is a blessing to see the Pope in our own island. We don’t have to make a trip to Rome. Make a little sacrifice in exchange of blessings,” Du added. (PNA) FFC/SARWELL Q. MENIANO/JSD