2015-01-08 17:01:00

Blessed Paul VI in the Philippines: a scrap book in sound


(Vatican Radio) In 1970 Blessed Paul VI , the first pilgrim pope,  travelled to the Philippines from the 27th to the 29th of November, as part of a broader Apostolic pilgrimage to Asia and Oceania which took him to Iran, Pakistan, Samoa, Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka.

It was a journey during which Paul VI, who envisaged Vatican diplomacy as a way of expressing the claims of conscience and morality in a world where the power of politics had the upper hand, made a memorable appeal in French for peace in Vietnam, which in those years was being torn apart by a decades-long war.

But at the time the event that most hit the headlines of this journey to the Philippines was the attempt on his life on the part of a Bolivian artist who lunged at him with a 33-centimeter knife.

However beyond these significant events what exactly did Paul VI say to the people of the Philippines during this visit? Veronica Scarisbrick brings you a sound picture of that journey which was to be the last of this first pilgrim pope who vehemently believed in the development of peoples as his social   encyclical ‘Populorum Progressio’ issued four years earlier testifies to. A document in which he advocated solidarity in action.

Solidarity which explains perhaps how that lasting image of his visit to the Philippines all these years later is his physical presence with the slum dwellers of the Tondo shacks. That image of a pope who contemplated the dire misery of the people of this sprawling area as he stood in his white cassock on the back of an open air lorry amid the welcoming crowds. Only getting off it to enter one of the tin shacks and meet with a family so as to witness their living conditions first hand.

Listen to this Vatican Radio 'Scrap Book in Sound' relating to the visit of Paul VI to the Philippines in 1970 presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick

Let’s recall for a moment how Paul VI had described this journey to the Philippines as a spiritual mission to take part in the deliberations of the Conference of Bishops of the whole of Eastern Asia, in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council which had ended five years earlier. How upon his arrival in the nation’s capital Manila he had praised the people of the Philippines for their admirable hospitality, their generous heart and their wonderful depth of faith and expressed to them his wish to find new ways to proclaim the Gospel to the men of our time. We are seeking, he said, to make an eternal and universal message, an answer to the questions asked by the man of today.

While on this occasion  Paul VI insisted how the Gospel is for all men the message of salvation, a couple of days later during his homily on the occasion of Holy Mass at  “Quezon Circle” in Manila this twentieth century pope’s characteristic questioning  style surfaced as he pointed to some of the issues that in his words ‘torment our times’ when he  asked questions such as: “ Can Christ really be of any use to us for solving the practical and concrete problems of the present  life? Did he not say that that his kingdom is not of this world? But let’s listen to his voice as he points to the relevance of the Christian view of life in the modern world in a specific culture: “Can the Christian view of life inspire a real renewal of society? Can that view harmonize with the demands of modern life and favor progress and well-being of all? Can Christianity interpret people’s yearnings and identify with the tendencies special to your culture?” 

These questions he went on to say are many and we cannot answer them with one single formula.Yet, as far as the positive development of your social conditions is concerned we can give a positive answer. Christianity can be salvation also on the earthly and human level. At the end of this homily he addressed people from different walks of life. Among them students, to whom he pointed to the challenges faced by a society dominated by technology and the deceptiveness of economic and social materialism, requesting they reaffirm the richness and relevance of authentic Christian sociology.But also workers, to them his message centred on the example of vigour and wisdom that only the Gospel of the Divine Worker can give. He then focused his attention both on the poor and on the wealthy. For the poor he had words that highlighted the great values of Christian patience and redemptive suffering. For the wealthy words that related to the severity of Christ in their regard when he witnessed their self –satisfaction and selfish attitude but also praise and gratitude when they were thoughtful or generous. Perhaps Paul VI remarked in this respect it is time for the rich to open their eyes and hearts to a great new vision dedicated not to self -interest, hatred and violence but rather to generous love and true progress.

At the time of this Apostolic journey the Philippines was the only Christian nation in Asia. And it was from here that Paul VI addressed the people of this continent in a radio message describing it as an immense land of great civilisations, birthplace of world religions before going on to express admiration for the deep religious spirit of its people and their thirst for the supernatural. We regard Asia, he remarked: “with love and reverence for the venerable antiquity and richness of its millennial culture”. But this was not without highlighting the importance of the witness afforded by the Christians of the Philippines within Asia, their special vocation to be the city set on a hill. In his words : “ This land has a special vocation to be the city set on the hill, a beacon of light on high giving shining witness amid the ancient and noble cultures of Asia. Both as individuals and as a nation you are to reflect in your daily lives the light of Christ.”








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