Cebuana among 10 youth who had lunch with Pope

MANILA, Philippines — A Catholic devotee from Cebu was among the 10 young people who had lunch with Pope Francis in Lisbon, Portugal, where the World Youth Day (WYD) is currently held.

Audrey Criscille Abatol, 33, who hails from Mandaue City, joined nine other young people aged 24 to 34, three of them from Portugal and one each from Peru, Equatorial Guinea, the United States, Palestine, Colombia and Brazil, according to the news service of the Vatican.

It noted she was the lone Filipino there.

The report said the pontiff and the young people enjoyed lunch of pasta, meat and ice cream at the Apostolic Nunciature or the residence of the apostolic nuncio in Lisbon.

When Abatol introduced herself to Pope Francis, he recognized the Santo Niño or the Infant Jesus – the patron saint of Cebu – which she gave him as a gift, according to the WYD volunteer.

“It was simple, ‘I’m Audrey from the Philippines.’ And we also presented a gift, a small gift. So for myself, I presented a Santo Niño de Cebu, it’s the Holy Child Jesus of Cebu, my island, I’m from Cebu, so I presented this gift and a bit of small notes for the Pope,” Abatol said.

“He asked, ‘Oh, Santo Niño?’ It was a beautiful moment,” she added.

During the lunch encounter, Abatol asked the pope “how to become a better friend and a better young fellow to others.”

“First he said that joy cannot be taught, but it needs to be shown, so that’s what he suggested – that really just show the Gospel through your actions, through what you do because it will be contagious,” she recalled the first Argentinian pope as saying.

Abatol admitted that she struggled with understanding Spanish and Italian, which Pope Francis and the other young people spoke during the lunch, although she was thankful for fellow delegates who translated some parts of the conversation for her.

Despite such difficulty, the Cebuana WYD participant considered the lunch with the pope – traditionally regarded as a successor of the first pope, St. Peter, and a representative of Jesus Christ on earth – a “gift” and a “grace from God.”

“I was really (surprised) when I was invited. Even though it was short, I know it was very intimate because we were just a few,” Abatol said.

She is currently part of WYD Lisbon 2023’s international relations team and a “pilgrim manager for the Philippines and Oceania episcopal conferences,” according to the Archdiocese of Cebu.

She also attended previous WYD celebrations in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 2013, Krakow in Poland in 2016 and Panama in 2019.

Abatol shared that she was inspired to attend the WYD after learning about the Philippines’ hosting of the worldwide Catholic event in 1995 led by St. John Paul II.