Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
The Church is dominant in the Philippines, where a major gap exists between rich and poor
Pope Francis is heading to the Philippines for a five-day visit keenly awaited by the nation’s 80 million Roman Catholics.
The highlight will be a huge open air Mass in the capital, Manila, on Sunday.
Other engagements include a visit to Tacloban to meet survivors of a devastating typhoon in November 2013.
Security will be tight after failed attempts to kill two previous Popes. Tens of thousands of soldiers and police have been deployed.
Pope Francis, the fourth pontiff to visit the Philippines, is travelling from Sri Lanka, where he called for unity in the conflict-hit nation and canonised its first saint.
Church bells will toll across the nation when he arrives in Manila at about 17:45 local time (09:45 GMT).
Eighty percent of the nation’s 100 million people are Catholic. Huge crowds are expected at each stage of the visit.
A three-day public holiday has been declared in the capital to clear the traffic.
“Every step he makes, every car ride he takes, every moment he stays with us is precious for us,” said Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. “Seeing him pass by is a grace.”
On Friday he meets President Benigno Aquino and celebrates Mass in Manila Cathedral.
On Saturday he heads to Tacloban, where Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people in 2013. He will celebrate Mass and also have lunch with survivors of the deadly storm, from which the area is still rebuilding.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, said he expected the Pope to deliver a message on climate change – to which some experts have partly attributed the storm.
Asked whether the Pope would address issues such as inequality, reproductive rights and divorce, he said: “His ministry is not to invent new teachings but he is quite sensitive – he wants to bridge the teachings of the Church with the new realities that we are facing.”
Several million people are expected to attend the open-air Mass in the capital’s Rizal Park on Sunday. Organisers say crowds could exceed the five million who gathered for a Mass by Pope John Paul II in 1995.
Major security preparations have been put in place to safeguard Pope Francis
Military chief General Gregorio Catapang said up to 40,000 security personnel would be tasked with keeping the Pope safe.
“There needs to be a balance between having the Pope meet up with the flock and meeting all the members of the Church and all others who have been invited to attend the public events, as well as at least keeping him away from danger,” he said.
Mr Aquino, in a televised address on Monday, urged all Filipinos to help protect the Pope.
In 1970, a Bolivian painter stabbed Pope Paul VI as he arrived in Manila, wounding him. In 1995, a week before Pope John Paul II’s visit, police thwarted a plot by Muslim extremists to bomb his motorcade.
BBC