POPE Francis sent his greetings on Tuesday to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and the Filipinos to reconnect with the Philippines more than nine years after his visit to the country in 2015.
“The Holy Father is sending you his greetings, Your Excellency. As most attached to the Filipino people [and] to the church in the Philippines,” Vatican Secretary for Relations and States and International Organizations Archbishop Paul Gallagher told President Marcos.
Gallagher said Pope Francis appreciates the Filipinos for their amazing work and contribution to the Catholic Church not only in the Philippines, but around the world “bringing that faith with them, whenever they’re working.”
Gallagher is on a five-day visit to the Philippines. He paid a courtesy visit on President Marcos at the Malacañan Palace on Tuesday afternoon.
The Vatican official was accompanied by Archbishop Charles J. Brown, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, Monsignor Giuseppe Trentadue, Counsellor of the Apostolic Nunciature in Manila and Monsignor Giuseppe Siviero, Secretariat of the State of the Holy See.
The Archbishop also met with Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo before he paid a courtesy call on the Chief Executive.
“I’m delighted it’s been possible to make this visit. It’s long overdue, in fact. But hopefully contacts will be renewed and continued,” Gallagher said. “It’ a very, very thriving relationship, I think.”
President Marcos conveyed his good wishes to Pope Francis and highlighted the vibrant relationship between the Philippines and the Holy See, which spans 73 years since it was established on April 8, 1951.
Gallagher is set to visit Malaybalay, Bukidnon to participate in the Plenary Session of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on July 3, according to the Vatican News.
The Archbishop will also celebrate Mass with the bishops in the Abbey of the Transfiguration in Malaybalay on July 4. He will then deliver an address at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on July 5.
Filipinos in the Vatican are composed of clergies, religious workers, lay professionals and domestic workers. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who was appointed as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples on June 5, 2022, is one of the prominent Filipinos working in the Vatican.
