ADVERTISEMENT
Filtered By: Topstories
News

The apparent bond between Pope Francis and Cardinal Tagle explained

By ROUCHELLE DINGLASAN, GMA News

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle was among the government and Church officials who welcomed Pope Francis on Thursday afternoon.

The Pope shook hands with the officials and religious leaders but it was only Tagle that the 78-year -old hugged.

 
In a chance interview on Friday, the 57-year-old cardinal explained his personal relationship with the Argentinian Pope.
 
"Before he became Pope, we worked in a commission at Vatican so we have known each other," Tagle said, adding that they worked for three years at the Council of the Synod of Bishops.
 
"We have been friends," he said. 
 
"If you go to a country for the first time, you will be more at ease to a person that you have worked with before. I think that explains it!" he noted.
 
During the Pope's first Holy Mass in the country officiated at Manila Cathedral,  Cardinal Tagle waved and said "Hi!" to the Pope before he read the message of gratitude.
 
In his message to Pope Francis at the Manila Cathedral, Tagle welcomed his friend by comparing him to the apostle Peter, the very first Pope.
 
"And now, as many of our poor people are just beginning to rise from recent natural and human-made calamities, you, Holy Father came to us. You bring fire, not to destroy but to purify. You bring an earthquake, not to shatter but to awaken," Tagle said.

"You bring weapons, not to kill but to assure. Indeed, "you are Peter, the Rock upon which Jesus builds His Church" (Matthew 16:18). You are Peter who comes "to strengthen your brothers and sisters in faith" (Luke 22:32)," he added.

Tagle was named by Pope Francis as one of three "Delegate Presidents" of the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.
 
Tagle was also part of the conclave that elected Pope Francis in March 2013.
 
Pope Francis, who was then Buenos Aires archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and Tagle, were both present at the conclave that elected then Pope Benedict XVI in April 2005.
 
Tagle became a cardinal in 2012. —NB, GMA News

Tags: papalvisit, popefrancis
Most Popular