MANILA, April 28, 2011— A Catholic diocese hopes to attract Catholics with a new pilgrimage site in Bacolod City in honor of soon-to-be beatified Pope John Paul II.
Developing structures linked to the pontiff has been a priority for the diocese but the “Pilgrimage for Life with John Paul II†is a nod to the growing number of his devotees.
Fr. Felix Pasquin, rector of San Sebastian Cathedral, said local activities have started since Holy Week at the John Paul I Tower ahead of his beatification on May 1.
“After the beatification Bishop Vicente Navarra is introducing in the diocese, Pilgrimage of Life with John Paul II,†Pasquin said over Manila archdiocese’s Radyo Veritas.
He said there are ten shrines in the diocese so any group or individual can make and organize a pilgrimage by selecting at least seven shrines.
Every shrine, he said, features teachings of John Paul II. “It’s a teaching on love, on forgiveness, on family, on the youth, etc.,†said Pasquin.
“The pilgrimage will end up at the Tower where they will pray before the icon of John Paul II, and then they will receive the official certificate of the pilgrimage,†he said.
On Thursday, an icon of the pope was blessed during a Mass at the cathedral. And starting Friday to Sunday, Masses will regularly be held at 3:00pm.
On Sunday morning, the diocese will feed several indigent children. “We know how John Paul II loved the children and the poor,†said Pasquin.
Then in the afternoon, the tower will show a live telecast of the late pope’s beatification at the Vatican.
“We shall have a wide screen and then we [will] invite parishioner[s], some people, to watch the beatification rights at about 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon,†the priest said.
“After this, we shall have a floral offering at the statue of John Paul II because we have a 15 foot statue at the corner of the tower,†he added. (CBCPNews)
