Pope Francis in the Philippines: press review 'Day Two'

(Vatican Radio) Seàn-Patrick Lovett  is in the capital of the Philippines Manila, reporting on the Apostolic visit of Pope Francis to Asia from the 12th to the 19th of January. The Pope arrived in the Philippines on Thursday flying in from Sri Lanka. Upon his arrival he received a very warm welcome, an enthusiasm echoed the following day in the Manila tabloids. Listen to Seàn-Patrick Lovett's  report:  

If all you had to go on was today’s Manila tabloids you’d be absolutely right in thinking either one, or both, of the following: 1. The Philippines is the new centre of the Universe;  2. Pope Francis is the uncontested leader of that Universe.

Every single front-page story in Manila’s three daily papers is a Pope-story – and most of those on the inside pages are as well. Here’s a sampling:

The Philippine Daily Inquirer has pun-fun with the fact the Pope’s white zucchetto flew off his head as he stepped out of the aircraft yesterday – hence the headline: “Blown Away”. Milking the metaphor, the main article in entitled “Inexplicable joy: mind-blowing”. Inside pages include major articles on (I quote) “Why you need a Pope Francis in your life” and (again I quote) how “His impact is much like what the Beatles did to rock and roll” (but I won’t go into details on that one). More serious editorials invite readers to “Be disciplined, help protect Francis”, others discuss his leadership style, and opinion pieces stimulate some profound and even controversial reflections on “why Asia’s largest Catholic country is likewise one of its most corrupt”…   

The Philippine Star unabashedly opens with the much-used epithet “The People’s Pope”. More importantly, it offers an article that clarifies how “Focus is on the poor, exploited”. Aside from looking ahead to the Tacloban visit tomorrow (“Tacloban painted white for Pope”) and providing the inevitable and necessary weather update (“Storm Amang enters Philippines to bring weekend rains”), possibly the most interesting front-page story is that entitled “Seeking God by hashtag: Pope sparks social media frenzy”. It tells how thousands of selfies taken by Filipinos with life-sized cardboard posters of the Pope are currently flooding social media along with innumerable Twitter messages using the #ShowThePope hashtag. Again, editorials take a more serious slant with analysis pieces regarding how the country is run ( “Necessary and desired changes” ) and continuing commentary on the security surrounding the visit (“State of paranoia”).

Finally, the Manila Bulletin headlines its front page with the announcement: “Pope’s passionate visit begins”. It also quotes Fr Lombardi as confirming “Papal visit security well-organized”, and assures its readers that “Francis inspires Catholics to attend Mass again”. Once more, the most thought-provoking articles are inside, including the editorial (“Muslims see hope for peace in papal visit”) complete with a cartoon of Pope Francis flying on the back of a peace-dove over a mosque in Mindanao, the southernmost island of the Philippines where 20% of the population is Muslim and a separatist struggle has been underway for years.

But probably the most practical and entertaining article of all in today’s papers is the one titled: “7 ways to survive the papal visit”. These include Number 6: “Pray for the Sinners – with everyone so busy trying to see the Pope who else will?”  And Number 7, the last and most obvious piece of advice: “Stay at Home”!

With the Pope in the Philippines – I’m Seàn-Patrick Lovett