Scottish Catholic Observer

During his three days in Sri Lanka, the first trip by a Pope to South Asia in 15 years, the Pope Canonised the country’s first saint on Wednesday. St Joseph Vaz was an Oratorian priest and missionary during the Dutch occupation of the 17th century.

The Pope’s plan was to also visit Sri Lanka’s most revered Marian shrine, the sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary at Madhu, in the north of the country later that day.

During his three days in the Philippines, meanwhile, the Pope planned to spend one day in Tacloban, the region devastated by typhoon Haiyan. He planned to have lunch with survivors and meet priests and religious at a cathedral wrecked by the typhoon.

Organisers of the Papal visit are expecting 6 million to 7 million people at the closing Mass in the Philippines on Sunday.

So many people are expected to troop to Luneta (Rizal) Park during the Closing Mass of the apostolic visit of Pope Francis that it will break the record 5 million crowd set during the 1995 Papal Mass of Pope John Paul II.

Fr Rufino Sescon, Jr, executive secretary of the Papal visit steering committee, said the capacity of the park is only around 1.2 million people, but that ‘we expect an overflow’

“In 1995, we had [five] million, so that would be a conservative estimate,” Fr Sescon said. “Our population has grown since 1995,”

Some 2250 priests from different parts of the archipelago and 250 local and foreign bishops will be concelebrating with the Holy Father during his last Mass in the country. Organisers will be stationing 18 LED screens with speakers, 20 first-aid stations, and around 450 portable toilets around Luneta. Barriers will be scattered all over the park for the safety of the Pope and the people who will attend.

“[The Philippine National Police and the Presidential Security Group] assured us that the Pope will be safe and people also will be safe for as long as we follow the regulations and the safety measures,” Fr Sescon said.