MANILA, Philippines – Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo urged devotees of Saint Padre Pio to pray for the Philippines as the saint’s incorrupt heart relic was brought to the Manila Cathedral on Tuesday, October 9.

In a Mass at the Manila Cathedral on Tuesday, Pabillo advised devotees not to approach Padre Pio only for personal needs, but also for prayers for the country.

“Kung sugatan po ang buhay natin, sugatan din ang bayan natin. Napakaraming problema (If our lives are wounded, so is our country. We have a lot of problems),” Pabillo said in a Mass at the Manila Cathedral on Tuesday. 

“Ipagdasal din natin ang bayan, na tulungan tayo ng panalangin ni Padre Pio at pabanalin tayo, lalong-lalo na ang ating mga leaders (Let us pray for our country, that the prayers of Padre Pio may help make us holy, especially our leaders),” Pabillo said. 

Pabillo was the main presider of the 9 am Mass at the Manila Cathedral on Tuesday, when Padre Pio’s heart relic was brought there from the University of Santo Tomas. The Manila Cathedral is open 24 hours on the days when heart relic is there, until early Thursday morning, October 11.

The most important thing

In his homily, Pabillo also reminded devotees not to be “anxious about many things” like the biblical figure of Martha, to whom Jesus said “there is only one thing necessary.”

“Baka tayo anxious tayo sa maraming mga bagay, nakakalimutan natin ang pinakamahalaga, at ang pinakamahalaga po ay ‘yun ‘yung pinili ni Padre Pio – walang iba kundi magpakabanal,” said Pabillo. (We might be too anxious about many things that we’re forgetting the most important, and Padre Pio chose the most important – nothing else but holiness.)

“Hingin natin kasama ng ating ibang mga kahilingan: Padre Pio, tulungan ‘nyo po na ang puso ko ay tumibok din para sa Diyos (Let us request alongside our other requests: Padre Pio, help me to make my heart beat for God),” Pabillo said.

A day earlier, another bishop sought to include social problems in the prayer intentions of Padre Pio’s devotees.

On Monday, October 8, Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David slammed drug war killings, corruption, vulgar language, and even hypocrisy in the Catholic Church as the incorrupt heart relic of Padre Pio visited the University of Santo Tomas.  

“The heart of Padre Pio, like that of Jesus, burned with a priestly zeal to save and not to condemn sinners,” said David. – Rappler.com