THE relic of Saint Pope John Paul the Great will be in Quezon City for more than a week starting Thursday.
The Church-run Radio Veritas 846 said the relic will be open for public veneration at its chapel, located at the second floor of Veritas Tower, 162 West Ave. corner Edsa in Quezon City, in time for the saint’s forthcoming feast day.
His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his papal inauguration on Oct. 22, the statement said.
Up for public veneration is a first-class relic “ex-sanguine,” or from the blood, of the patron saint of the World Youth Day and the World Meeting of Families. Devotees of Saint Pope John Paul may visit his relic from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Known as the most widely traveled pope in history after visiting 129 countries during his pontificate, Pope John Paul was born on May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, Poland.
He was ordained in 1946, became the bishop of Ombi in 1958, became the archbishop of Krakow in 1964, and was made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1967.
In 1978, he became the first non-Italian pope in more than 400 years and would go on to serve for 27 years until 2005, to become the second longest-serving pope in modern history after Pope Pius IX.
Pope John Paul died at the age of 84 at the Vatican on April 2, 2005, the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday. He was beatified on May 1, six years later at the Saint Peter’s Square by Pope Benedict XVI, who was his immediate successor, and was canonized on April 27, 2014, along with Pope John XXIII.
The saint has visited the Philippines twice—in February 1981, when he beatified the first Filipino martyr, Lorenzo Ruiz; and in January 1995, when an estimated four million Filipinos attended the Mass he celebrated at the close of World Youth Day and is considered as the largest single gathering in Christian history.
