Fire guts Pandacan church

MANILA, Philippines — A fire of still undetermined origin engulfed the Sto. Niño de Pandacan Parish church in Manila yesterday afternoon.

The blaze started on the second floor of the church on Jesus street in Barangay 833 at around 1:05 p.m. and reached third alarm around 15 minutes later.

The Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said the fire was put under control at around 1:44 p.m. and doused after 30 minutes.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) has not yet released any estimate of the property damage as of press time. No one was reported injured in the incident.

The church housed centuries-old religious icons, among them the 300-year-old wooden image of the Sto. Niño de Pandacan.

New minor basilica

Pope Francis has declared the Santuario de San Pedro Bautista as a minor basilica and has granted a pontifical coronation to the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Quezon City, the Cubao diocese announced yesterday.

The diocese said the Santuario de San Pedro Bautista in San Francisco del Monte dates back to 1590 and is the oldest Catholic church in Quezon City.

There are 17 minor basilicas in the Philippines.

An article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website explained that minor basilicas are traditionally named because of their antiquity, dignity, historical value, architectural and artistic worth and significance as centers of worship.

“The bestowal of the title initiates a very particular bond between the basilica and the pope. Papal symbols signifying the relationship will also be installed and blessed at a mass solemnizing the designation of the shrine as a basilica later this year,” the CBCP said. No date has been set for the mass.

Pope Francis has also approved the canonical coronation of the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the minor basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in New Manila, Quezon City.

The Catholic News Agency said the coronation of an image is usually done by designating a crown or stellar halo to be added to a Marian image under a specific devotional title in a particular area or diocese.

The crowning of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was approved last May 13 during the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, but was only announced by the Cubao diocese on Thursday night. It is the third coronation that took place in the diocese.

Among the other images that received pontifical coronations are the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary de Manila and the Our Lady of Lourdes.  Robertzon Ramirez