Outpouring for Francis in Poignant Manila Visit
By FLOYD WHALEY and AUSTIN RAMZY

MANILA — As he celebrated Sunday Mass before a crowd of millions here in a cornerstone of Catholicism in Asia, Pope Francis stressed the need to care for the world’s poor, a theme he has repeated throughout his five-day visit to the Philippines.

He also touched on the subject of the environment, a topic he is expected to address in depth in an encyclical later this year.

God “created the world as a beautiful garden and asked us to care for it,” Francis said. “Through sin, man has disfigured that natural beauty. Through sin, man has also destroyed the unity and beauty of our human family, creating social structures that perpetuate poverty, ignorance and corruption.”

Six million people gathered here in Rizal Park and surrounding streets, according to Col. Restituto Padilla Jr., a military spokesman. The crowd waited for hours in a light rain for the afternoon Mass.

With vehicle traffic blocked off for security, crowds arrived on foot, walking slowly through muddy, flooded streets. Alyssa Sarmiento, a 25-year-old computer programmer, stood drenched in the rain near the park with a wide smile on her face. Ms. Sarmiento, a Manila resident, came at 5 a.m. and was able to see the pope, who arrived hours later riding in a white popemobile built like a jeepney, a truck with a covered bed commonly used for mass transit in the Philippines.

“It feels good when you see his face,” she said. “I just wanted to feel what other people felt when they saw him. It feels good.”

As the Mass was broadcast on loudspeakers, the crowd stood quietly, some raising their hands in quiet reverence, others huddling together to avoid the rain.

Ruby Estrella, a 45-year-old resident of the province of Rizal, just east of Manila, cuddled with her young son under a tarp. From their shelter, they were unable to see the Mass or the large television screens set up around the park. “We can hear him,” she said. “That’s good enough.”

Earlier on Sunday, in remarks at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Francis spoke about the need to deepen one’s sense of compassion, to go beyond simply giving to the poor by understanding their plight.

Glyzelle Palomar, 12, who said she had witnessed drugs and prostitution while living on the street before she was given shelter by an aid group, openly wept as she asked the pope why children were allowed to suffer. The crowd applauded when the pope embraced the girl and a 14-year-old boy, who had also once been homeless.

“The nucleus of your question almost doesn’t have a reply,” he said. “Only when we, too, can cry about the things that you said are we able to reply to that question. Why do children suffer so much? Why do children suffer? When the heart is able to ask itself something and cry, then we are able to understand something.”

Rizal Park, which can hold about 700,000, was divided into large quadrants that allowed Francis to move between groups. As many as five million people turned out when John Paul II celebrated a Mass in the same park in 1995. On Sunday, a crowd again filled the park and nearby side streets, and about 20,000 police officers were on duty for crowd control, in addition to medical personnel and volunteers.

Francis has discussed humans’ effect on the environment and climate change at points on this trip, which has special resonance in a country frequently battered by powerful typhoons. About one-quarter of the Philippines’ 100 million citizens live in poverty, and those in substandard housing in coastal areas are particularly vulnerable to storms.

“He’s determined not to forget the poor,” said Neil Ormerod, a professor of theology at Australian Catholic University. “That’s been a constant theme in everything he’s said and done, and that’s really why the climate change issue is dear to his heart — seeing those impacted in some of the poorest countries on earth, who are doing the least to cause the problems.”

教宗雨中彌撒 菲律賓600萬人參與

天主教教宗方濟各十八日在菲律賓首都馬尼拉的黎剎公園，主持他這趟亞洲行的最後一場彌撒。馬尼拉市政府估計，有六百到七百萬人不畏風雨湧入會場與周邊，打破1995年教宗若望保祿二世在黎剎公園主持在菲最後一場彌撒時，創下的五百萬人紀錄，是史上最多人參與的教宗活動。

七十八歲的教宗穿上淺黃雨衣，搭乘專用座車，在信眾夾道歡迎下來到會場，一路上不時停下來親吻孩童。

他在講道時呼籲菲律賓人避開「讓貧窮、無知和貪腐得以延續的社會結構」。這個主題他在十六日會見菲律賓總統艾奎諾時強調過。艾奎諾也參與這場彌撒。

教宗還批評菲律賓的節育政策，說「暗中的攻擊和違反我們真實、神聖價值的計畫」威脅到家庭。

當天稍早，教宗到馬尼拉聖托馬斯天主教大學會見年輕人時，一名遭棄養的十二歲女孩巴洛馬，以眼淚感動教宗，教宗呼籲全球，學會為數百萬窮困、飢餓、無家可歸和受虐兒童哭泣。教宗還呼籲男人，要多多聽女人的意見，不要沙文主義。

巴洛馬問說：「很多孩子被父母遺棄，其中很多人遇到各種壞事，像是吸毒、賣身等等。為什麼神允許這種事發生？即使小孩沒犯錯？為什麼幫助我們的人這麼少？」

獲教會庇護的巴洛馬掉下淚，無法講完準備好的歡迎詞。教宗擁抱她，將先前擬好的演講詞擱置一旁來回答她的問題。

阿根廷籍的教宗顯然深受感動，他說：「她提出了沒有答案的問題，全場只有她這麼做，她甚至無法說完，只能用淚水表達。」

教宗對現場三萬名年輕人說：「為什麼孩子會受苦？我要請大家捫心自問，『我學會哭泣了嗎？看到孩子挨餓、吸毒、無家可歸、被遺棄、受虐、被奴役，我學會為他們哭泣了嗎？』」

此外，教宗還脫稿提到，上台跟他對談的五個人之中，有四個是男性，「女性代表太少了」。

教宗說：「在現代社會，女人有許多話要告訴我們。有時候我們男人太沙文主義了。我們不讓女人有發言空間，女人卻能從不同的角度看事情，提出我們男人無法領會的問題。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/world/asia/pope-in-the-philippines.html

2015-01-19．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯李京倫