Residents near nunciature undergo tight security checks

MANILA, Philippines - Residents and workers in houses and buildings near the Apostolic Nunciature in Taft Ave., Manila are subjected to stringent checks before they are allowed to enter the area.

They have to present their IDs before they can pass through one of four checkpoints ringing the Apostolic Nunciature several hundred meters away.

Their IDs are then cross-checked with photocopies that barangay officials had submitted several weeks ago.

But they have no complaints.

Watchman Joselito Austria said: “It’s inconvenient as they have to walk a bit far, but this is only temporary and our beloved Pope Francis is with us.”

The Apostolic Nunciature is the Holy See’s embassy in the Philippines.

It serves as the official residence of the pope and other Vatican officials visiting the country.

International law has viewed the Holy See as a sovereign state since the year 700.

It ruled a vast territory known as the Papal State in central Italy until 1870.

In 1929, Italy and the Holy See signed the Lateran Treaty in which Italy recognized the full sovereignty of the Holy See in the State of Vatican City.

Francis is the third pope to stay in the Apostolic Nunciature after Paul VI in 1970 and John Paul II in 1981 and 1995.

The Papal Nuncio, the Holy See’s diplomatic representative to the Philippines with the rank of  ambassador, heads the Apostolic Nunciature.

Appointed on May 10, 2011, Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto is the current Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines.

He has previously served in Africa and Chile.  

The first Apostolic Nunciature in the Philippines was opened in 1902.

People excited to see Francis

The excitement of Filipinos had been building up hours before the arrival of Pope Francis.

They were hoping to see him up close during the motorcade to the Apostolic Nunciature and when he celebrates mass at the Manila Cathedral and at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park.

Forty five-year-old Joan Fernandez-Cunanan of Fairview, Quezon City has been preparing herself and her 16-year-old daughter Shyra for the long walk and the huge crowd at the papal mass on Sunday at the Quirino Grandstand.

She said they slept early in the past few days to have enough strength for the mass at the grandstand, where up to six million people are expected to attend.

“We avoid getting tired for that day,” she said.

“It may be more comfortable to watch him on TV, but we want to see him in person. It may take another 20 years for another papal visit. I’m not sure if I would still be here by then so I don’t want to lose this chance of seeing the pope.”

Cunanan hopes to get Francis to intervene in the healing of her youngest sister Janice, who was paralyzed due to a stroke last October.

The festive atmosphere has also rubbed off among foreign tourists, who did not know that Francis was arriving.

Thirty-year-old Linh Nguyen from Tay Ho in Hanoi, Vietnam learned about the papal visit when he was in Boracay last week.

“I did not know it (papal visit) would be this big here,” he said.

“It’s just sad I’m leaving (tonight) so I would not see the actual gathering.”

Linh was touring Intramuros, Manila yesterday.

Two tourists from Norway also did not know about the papal visit. They got caught in the excitement along Roxas Boulevard.

They regret that the Manila Cathedral was closed when they visited it yesterday.

Fifty-eight-year-old Jenny Adora of Commonwealth, Quezon City said she will attend the papal mass at the Manila Cathedral and the Quirino Grandstand with her family.

“I have seen Pope John Paul II in Luneta in 1995, although from afar, so I’m hoping to see Pope Francis now,” she said.

Adora said she had made an ocular inspection of the vicinity of Quirino Grandstand and the Manila Cathedral. 

“I decided to come here early so that I would know our way,” she said. “I know that many roads have been blocked.”  –  With Sheila Crisostomo