Pope Francis to Say Masses in Latin during PHL Visit – CBCP

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said that Pope Francis will celebrate Masses in Latin during his papal visit to the Philippines from January 15 to 19 next year.

Chairman of the CBCP Commission on Social Communications and Pasig Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara said that all the responses, however, will be in English.

“The Masses will be in Latin but the responses will be in English,” Vergara said in a recent press conference.

The bishop also said that the Argentinean Pope will also be delivering his speeches to the Filipinos in English.

“But the pope is the pope of surprises. He might make off the cut comments in Italian and Spanish,” Vergara noted.

Meanwhile, Papal nuncio Archbishop Guiseppe Pinto is hoping that the Filipino faithful will experience “an intense spiritual preparation for this encounter with grace and mercy.”

“He will go to the geographical and existential peripheries. We will listen to him as if he were speaking to each one of us. Every tear, every sorrow and every hope he will make his own,” Pinto said.

Likewise, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said that the papal visit will surely bring much blessing” to the Filipinos, especially to the poor, the survivors of recent natural and human-caused calamities, and the victims of injustices. (CBCP/RJB/JEG/PIA-NCR)