His Eminence Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, SDB, cheers on a nun performing the Sinulog dance during his visit to the Don Bosco Youth Center in Pasil, Cebu City (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
The Burmese prelate sent by Pope Francis to represent him to the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) yesterday showed Cebuanos that he had the moves.
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar, gave in to requests from priests of the Don Bosco Youth Center in Barangay Pasil to try dancing the Sinulog, a traditional dance to venerate the Holy Child whose feast day is celebrated here every third Sunday of January.
Holding the image of the Sto. Niño, Cardinal Bo did the basic Sinulog dance moves of two-steps forward and one-step backward first with the lead dancer, then with the rest of the contingent of the Pasil Elementary School.
After 20 seconds of dancing, he passed the image to the other priests while the crowd broke into applause.
Barangay Pasil is one of the urban poor villages in Cebu City that is plagued with problems of illegal drugs and other crimes.
The residents gave Cardinal Bo a warm welcome while he was walking to the Don Bosco Youth Center, which was about 300 meters from the main road, for a scheduled visit.
Bo is a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco, one of the congregations in the Catholic Church.
Residents lined up in the street and waved flaglets of white and yellow – the colors of the Vatican – as the Papal legate passed by.
Some residents stayed on the second floor of their houses to shower white and yellow chrysanthemum petals on Cardinal Bo.
Others slipped through his security escort to shake or kiss his hand.
The Cardinal showed his appreciation for the warm reception with a wide smile.
During his speech, Bo said he was happy to visit the Don Bosco Youth Center, which he described is “the pride of our Salesian brothers.”
“It is so encouraging to hear and see that our Salesian values are alive and vibrant in this part of the planet, in this area supposed to be the poorest of the poor,” he said.
Two youths from the center gave their testimonies to Cardinal Bo.
One was Korina Tabay, 17, who said that she and the rest of their neighbors felt blessed that Bo chose to visit their barangay.
“We ask you to pray for us, for peace and unity for our families. For us in Pasil, life is hard for some of us (are) bound by the influence of drugs. Others live with broken families. Most of us live in poverty,” she said.
She said they were inspired by the homily of Cardinal Bo during the opening Mass at the Plaza Independencia last Sunday where the papal legate urged to declare World War III against poverty.
Cardinal Bo implored the crowd of more than 100 comprising mostly of teenagers and children, not to blame their situation but instead work hard. “You can become priests, sisters, brothers, bishops,” he said.
“You must get up and work hard to become great for others. If you fall, all of us in one way or another we fall. But the ugly thing is some fall and never get up. Great people fall also but they get up,” Bo added.