Pope Francis to speak in English during Philippines visit

Organizers expect millions to attend three planned Masses.

Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara.

Manila:  Pope Francis will deliver his homilies and speeches in English during his trip to the Philippines in January.

"The Masses will be in Latin but the responses will be in English," said Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara, chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Social Communications of the bishops' conference.

Pope Francis is scheduled to celebrate at least three public Masses: at the Manila Cathedral, the Luneta national park in Manila and in Tacloban City during his five-day visit to the Philippines.

Cerbo said the Masses will be in Latin because the Holy Father "has more facility in reading Latin than reading English".

"If [the Mass] is in English he might have difficulty," said Cerbo, adding that the pope’s time in the country "is very limited" so "every minute matters".

The Mass at the Manila cathedral on January 16 will be limited to bishops, priests, and religious men and women due to limited space.

"We will set up four video walls outside [for the people] but we will encourage them to go to the Luneta [Mass]," said Cerbo.

"We are preparing in all aspects in terms of security, physical arrangement, health services and many more. Committees were formed to take charge of these concerns," the priest said.

The government is expecting up to six million people to attend the pope's Mass in Luneta.

"We are expecting streets and roads to be filled with people," said Marciano Paynor, government representative to the committee for the papal visit.

Pope St John Paul II's visit to the Philippines in 1995 attracted about five million people.

Source: ucanews.com