Hope to see you, Pope Francis

Strange. I woke up one day in October thinking how can I possibly get near Pope Francis during his visit to the Philippines in January 2015.

I know, it wasn't easy. Aside from the tight security and protocol that will be implemented for the occasion, there was the issue of distance — I left the Philippines for the United Arab Emirates right after my college graduation and have been staying there ever since. Also, it was never me to regard a person based on his or her religious rank. For me faith and religion are two different things. Seeing a pope is an act of religion, not of faith.

But I can't escape the feeling that Pope Francis' intercession could make a difference on me. He could remind me why I was given a third shot at life after my second brain operation due to arteriovenous malformation (AVM).

Yes, you read it right. This is my third chance. The first was when I was born, the second was on March 7, 1998. In 2008, the day Harry Potter was born in Hogwarts (July 31, for you non-Harry Potter fans), the malformation recurred, leaving me unable to do a lot of basic things to date.

In 2009, a neurologist declared me AVM-free. Well, at least he hoped that the mass would not regrow and see me through my fourth life. I'm basically okay now — if you could call someone who cannot walk properly, eat heartily, write legibly, and smile amicably that.
Anyway...

I reached out to my editors, to all the members of the Papal Visit 2015 National Organizing Committee, and to every affiliated organization of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines on Facebook.

I also contacted all the priests listed on the website of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila. I also sent letters to their respective parishes.

I also left messages on the papal visit website, and wrote to the CBCP Media Office, to the  Manila Cathedral, and to the Central Preparatory Commission of the CBCP through the advice of the Apostolic Nunciature of the Philippines.

Then I came across a report that each archdiocese and diocese will be asked to send five persons with disabilities (PWDs) in a Mass in Luneta. Much as I do not want to take advantage of my plight, I grabbed the chance and wrote as well to the bishops and other authorities in Quezon City and Caloocan.

One of my aunts had seen the now-Saint Pope John Paul II on her way to work in 1995. I could still remember the look on her face then. I thought it would be nice to experience something like that, too.

So now I'm here in the Philippines, my home country, with hopes of seeing Pope Francis, whether near or from afar. —KBK, GMA News