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VOL. XXXIX • NO. 71 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES APRIL 27, 2025
IN MET R MANILAO
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PAALAM, LOLO KIKO: POPE OF THE PEOPLE
FRANCIS BELIEVED CHURCH A HOME FOR ALL—HOMILY
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ATICAN City —Hundreds of thousands of mourners and world leaders packed St. Peter’s Square on Saturday for the funeral of Pope Francis -- the “pope among the people” and the Catholic Church’s first Latin American leader hailed for his unwavering spirit of sacrifice. “Despite his final fragility and suffering, Pope Francis chose to walk the path of selfgiving until the last day of his earthly life,” Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said in his funeral homily. “He followed in the footsteps of his Lord, the Good Shepherd, who loved his sheep to the point of giving his own life for them. And he did so with strength and serenity, remaining close to his flock, the Church of God.” More than 50 heads of state, including US President Donald Trump and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., were also present at the solemn ceremony. Some waited overnight to get a seat in
HOPE, APPREHENSION AND PRAYERS: SEARCH FOR THE NEXT POPE ARRIVING in Rome after Pope Francis’ death, Catholic cardinals have admitted some apprehension at the responsibility of choosing his successor, as they begin setting out what they hope to see in the next head of the Church. The task of choosing a new pope to replace the Argentine, who died on Monday aged 88, “is beyond us and yet requires us,” said French cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, summing up the mood after celebrating a mass on Thursday evening. “We feel very small. We have to make decisions for the whole Church, so we really need to pray for ourselves,” added Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Hollerich, a Jesuit who was a close advisor to Francis. The conclave is likely to begin right after the nine days of mourning declared by the Holy See, which end on May 4, he said, adding that he was approaching the occasion with “great hope” but also “a certain apprehension.” Turn to A4
LOVE OUTPOURING.
(Top photo, left) A photograph taken from St. Peter Basilica shows a general view of the funeral for the late Pope Francis at the Vatican on April 26, 2025. (Top photo, right) Pallbearers carry the coffin of the late pontiff inside the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore where he was buried. (Above) President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza AranetaMarcos are seen with US President Donald Trump at St. Peter’s Square for the funeral of the Argentine pope. AFP, Vatican News, PCO
the vast square in front of St Peter’s Basilica, with the Vatican reporting some 250,00 people attended, in an outpouring of support for the Argentine pontiff. The crowds applauded as the pope’s coffin was carried out of the basilica by white gloved pallbearers, accompanied by more than 200 red-robed cardinals, and then again as it was taken back after the approximately two-hour mass. Around 150,000 people lined the route to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore as the popemobile carrying the coffin of the Argentine was driven to his final resting place. Turn to A4
SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE BASILICA: FRANCIS’ FINAL RESTING PLACE ROME—The Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, which Pope Francis chose as his final resting place, is a fifth-cen-
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tury church located in the center of Rome that already holds the tombs of seven popes. The basilica holds some of the Church’s most important relics, including an icon of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus, attributed to Saint Luke. It also holds pieces of wood believed to have been from Jesus’s crib. The basilica’s website says recent studies have dated the wood from
the period of Jesus’s birth. Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, was be the first pontiff in more than a century not to be entombed in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Francis was very devoted to the worship of the Virgin Mary and made a point of praying in Santa Maria Maggiore before leaving on trips abroad and upon his return to Rome. Most recently, Francis prayed to the icon of the Virgin Mary inside the
basilica on April 12, to mark the beginning of the Holy Week that culminated in Easter. Francis declared his desire to be entombed in the basilica – known in English as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major – in 2023. The last pope to be buried there was Clement IX in 1669. The last pontiff to be buried outside the Vatican was Leo XIII in 1903, whose final resting place Turn to A4
PAPAL BASILICA OF SAINT MARY MAJOR
First Pope to be named Francis
4KM
First Pope to reside in a Vatican Guesthouse
First Pope to issue an Encyclical on the Environment
Pope Francis’ Firsts First Jesuit Pope
First Pope from the Americas
First Pope to canonize a millennial (Carlo Acutis)
First Pope to address the United Nations General Assembly
First Pope to visit a Mosque in the Arabian Peninsula
First Pope to canonize a Pope (Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II) in the 21st Century
‘HE GAVE US MORE THAN HOPE’: MASS HELD AT SITE OF FRANCIS’ TACLOBAN VISIT By Maricel V. Cruz
BOUNDLESS GRATITUDE. Speaker Martin Romualdez leads Eastern Visayas residents, church leaders, and public officials in attending a Mass at the tarmac of the New Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban City on Saturday, April 26, 2025, to honor Pope Francis who stood in the same area amid stormy weather on Jan. 17, 2015 to offer comfort to the people still reeling from the devastation of Super Typhoon Yolanda.
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TACLOBAN CITY—Speaker Martin Romualdez on Saturday afternoon led public officials and Waraynons in attending a solemn Mass to honor the legacy of Pope Francis and mark the 10th anniversary of late pontiff’s historic visit on January 17, 2015 at the tarmac of the New Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport here. He said the visit gave the people of Eastern Visayas not only hope but the strength to rise from the devastation of Super Typhoon Yolanda.
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“Pope Francis gave us more than hope,” Romualdez said after the commemoration, titled Paghinumdom: A Tribute of Gratitude. “He showed the world how to lead with compassion. He stood with us—not just as a Pope, but as a father to the suffering. His presence gave us strength to rise.” “He gave us the courage to begin again. When we felt forgotten, he remembered. When we were broken, he came to bless the brokenness. That is something no people ever forget,” he added. Turn to A4
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One of Rome’s Four Patriarchal Basilicas It has a relic of the Manger of Jesus The last pope to be buried there was Clement IX in 1669. Also known as the “Lady of the Snows” because it was the site for a snowfall in the 4th Century marking where the Virgin wanted to have a Church built
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