Following the Pope’s visit to Manila, the Plenary Assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) are currently meeting to discuss the new evangelization and the ‘Year of the Poor’, proclaimed by the local Church for this year.
In an interview Fides News Agency, Fr. Melvin Castro, the CBCP’s Secretary of the Commission on Family and Life said that the meeting will look at the needs of the poor and evangelization “in a different light after the Pope’s visit.”
«Among the Bishops, among the clergy and the faithful, there is a great enthusiasm for what Pope Francis donated to our Church,” he said. “The Pope received spiritual energy from the crowd of faithful who welcomed him, and our Church in the Philippines received great consolation and strong enthusiasm to live and profess its faith, thanks to Pope Francis presence and words»,
Fr. Castro went on to say that throughout his visit, the Holy Father gave an example as to how the Church should be attentive to the poor. This approach, he continued, “will have a strong impact in the long in the Philippine Church.The poor teach that man is worth for what he is, and not for what he has».
The CPCP’s Secretary of the Commission on Family and Life also noted that the Pope’s visit will also help Filipino laity to have a greater involvement in the pastoral care of families and youth.
«We are happy that the Pope spoke out in defense of the family and stigmatized the ideology that comes from Western culture, which exports divorce, abortion, homosexual marriage, inviting us to promote and defend family with the traditional values of Philippine culture», he concluded.
