Record crowds greeted Pope Francis as he wrapped up his historic visit to the Philippines. While he delivered a message of compassion, some of his remarks were considered controversial.
One of the first stops on the pope’s Philippines tour was a visit to Tacloban, the region devastated just over a year ago by Typhoon Haiyan. But his stay was cut short when a tropical storm started to move in.
The pope was criticized just moments before his Philippines arrival when he suggested the Charlie Hebdo terror attack occurred because Muslims were insulted by the magazine’s critical cartoons.
“Freedom of expression is a fundamental right,” but people “should not abuse it by provoking, or insulting the faith of others,” the pope said.
Once he arrived in Manila, he strongly defended traditional marriage, saying that “powerful forces threaten to disfigure God’s plan for creation.”
He called same-sex marriage a threat to the family and society itself.
He also said abortion is a threat to the family unit.
“Protect your families, protect your families … be sanctuaries of respect for life, proclaiming the sacredness of every human life from conception to natural death,” the pope insisted.
While the pope’s earlier comments were deemed somewhat political, and maybe even a bit controversial, in his final day of meetings in Manila, he told thousands of young people that they need to live their faith—to demonstrate it through mercy, compassion and humility.
If Filipinos are to be good Christians, they need to have an encounter with Christ, learn to weep and reach out to help those in need, he said.
The chairman of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches suggests the pope’s message also applies to non-Catholics.
“We evangelicals can benefit from that because it has been a long time that our faith has been private and very personal and we need to re-focus our faith into engagement,” Bishop Cesar Punzalan explained.
One of the most memorable moments came at the pontiff’s final meeting as a record 6 million people gathered in the rain at Rizal Park.
The gathering is where a rescued homeless girl, 12-year-old Glyzelle Palomar, asked the pope why God allows children to suffer and become crime victims.
He hugged her as she wept.
“There are some realities that you can only see through eyes that have been cleansed by tears,” he said.
The pope urged people to see children as “a gift to be welcomed, cherished and protected, not allowed to be robbed of hope and condemned to life on the streets.”
Pope Francis will make history again with his first visit to the United States. It’s scheduled for next September in an appropriately named city for this compassionate pope: Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love.
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