Palo, Leyte – “I am very ready,” said 53-year-old Niza Flores, while counting the remaining hours before her lunch date with Pope Francis tomorrow, Saturday.
“It’s really been my dream to see a Pope in person. And this dream is about to be realized,” she told CDN in Visayan.
The mother from Sagbayan town in Bohol lost her 12-year-old son during the Bohol earthquake in October 2013.
Flores, along with four other earthquake survivors from Bohol, arrived in Palo town in Leyte yesterday in time for Pope Francis’ arrival tomorrow morning. They will join 25 survivors of super typhoon Yolanda from Leyte, Borongan, and Calbayog.
TABLE FOR THE CHOSEN. A simple unadorned table made of narra wood inside the Archbishop’s Residence in Palo town in Leyte will be the silent witness as Pope Francis breaks bread this Saturday with 30 victims of supertyphoon Yolanda and Bohol earthquake. (DANNY PETILLA)
On her way to the Archbishop’s Residence in Palo yesterday, Flores brought at least 30 rosaries which she will ask the Pope to bless.
“I will distribute them to my relatives and close friends when I go back home,” she said beaming.
While it is a dream come true to see the Holy Father, Flores said the price that she had to pay for it wasn’t easy.
“I lost my 12-year-old son. It’s so painful until now. My son seemed to be the bridge so I can fulfill my dream of seeing a pope.
With all that has happened in my life, I trust in God. If it is His will, then let it be,” she said.
There is no dress code for the 30 guests to follow, said Fr. Chris Arthur Militante, information officer of the Archdiocese of Palo.
“There are no particular instructions. Even the color, they are free to choose as long as what they will wear will be modest,” Militante said.
Workers strip off broken stained glass panels from a window of the Palo Cathedral which were damaged by supertyphoon Yolanda. (INQUIRER PHOTO/ LYN RILLON)
Pope Francis is set to arrive at the Daniel Romualdez Airport in Tacloban City at 9: 30 a.m. tomorrow. He will preside over an open-air Mass and then proceed to the Archbishop’s Residence in Palo to have lunch with 30 survivors of calamities. This will be followed by the blessing of the Pope Francis Center for the Poor at 3 p.m..
The Holy Father will later proceed to the Palo Metropolitan Cathedral to meet and address the clergy, men and women of different religious communities, and seminarians. He will also pray over the Mass grave located within the cathedral compound where about 150 dead bodies of those who perished at the height of super typhoon Yolanda werre buried.
“So far, there are no changes in his itinerary in Leyte. What was being announced shall proceed,” he added.