#ShowThePope: How Filipinos spend Christmas

MANILA, Philippines – Weeks before Pope Francis arrives in the Philippines, an archdiocese in Leyte responds to the Pope’s call for a church in service of the poor. 

For Rappler’s #ShowThePope campaign – a crowdsourcing project for the pontiff’s trip to the Philippines – Father Amadeo Alvero, communications head of the Archdiocese of Palo, posted a photo of the media noche, a new year’s eve feast, hosted by the archdiocese.

On his Facebook page, he wrote: “Media Noche for the poor in response to Archbishop John Du’s call to be active in our service to the lowly on this Year of the Poor.”

#ShowThePope: Palo Archdiocese hosts New Year’s Eve feast for the poor =) Photo from Fr A Alvero @rapplerdotcom pic.twitter.com/RHKFfbChMt

— Paterno Esmaquel II (@paterno_II) January 2, 2015

The Archdiocese of Palo is one of the pontiff’s stops in the Visayas during his 5-day visit to the Philippines on January 15 to 19. The Pope is also set to meet with earthquake and Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) survivors, the highlight of his apostolic visit. 

Francis’ message of a pro-poor church and his criticism of a “culture of waste” has been echoed by the local Catholic Church. 

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle earlier urged parishes to host poor families for the traditional Christmas Eve feasts to make the spirit of the holidays more meaningful for the poor, and in accordance with the papal visit theme of mercy and compassion.

“May our solidarity with the poor help us to behold the Son of Man who became poor that we may become rich for God. Let us visit Jesus in the mangers of poverty around us. And let us bring gifts of mercy and compassion,” he said.

On the first day of 2015 – designated the Year of the Poor by the Philippine Catholic Church – Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas also issued a warning against priests who live in luxury.

“It is a scandal for a priest to die a rich man,” he said.  (READ: Full text of Archbishop Villegas’ letter to priests)

Meanwhile, other netizens wanted to #ShowThePope how family took center stage in a typical Filipino Christmas. 

Users @anaia24 and @naomialipio shared their photos of a family reunion done virtually, thanks to technology.

@rapplerdotcom Seeing each other while on the other side of the planet. #ShowThePope #balikbayan #technology pic.twitter.com/fm0w4D5QjU

— Zen (@anaia24) December 25, 2014

Here’s how @naomialipio‘s family spent Christmas together. Send us your family photo for #ShowThePope! pic.twitter.com/rU0e6lQvAJ

— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) December 26, 2014

What about you? What do you want to #ShowThePope?

Tweet us your photos using this hashtag, and we’ll include your entries in a gallery that we’ll send to the Vatican. We’ll also feature the best entries in our stories. – Rappler.com

Join Rappler in a 100-day countdown to Pope Francis’ visit to the Philippines: a journey from the Vatican to Tacloban. Tweet us your thoughts using the hashtag #PopeFrancisPH!