"I Don't Know What To Say To You" – Pope and People, Together In The Storm

Quite possibly the most powerful moment of his 22 months as Bishop of Rome, scrapping his prepared preach before a crowd estimated at 500,000 – and wearing the same poncho given the throng over his vestments due to tropical-force wind and rain – here's the Pope's emotional ad-libbed homily to the community hardest hit by the most devastating recorded storm ever to hit land...

                                                                                 
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(Tacloban 9am) At least by the Pope's schedule, magandang umaga – good morning.

To accomplish the purpose for which he most wanted to visit the Philippines, Lolo Kiko left Manila for Tacloban – ground zero of 2013's catastrophic Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) – almost an hour ahead of schedule, ostensibly in light of the tropical storm rains which have already begun to soak the islands' southern tier. Already, an announcement was made that Communion will not be distributed at this morning's Mass at the town's airport to spare the crowd's time spent outdoors.

Here below, the Vatican live-feed....


With a focus on "human ecology" and climate change likely to figure in today's message, texts to drop on delivery. Til then, the liturgical texts are available via the e-book Missal for this weekend's trip.

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