Filipino Catholics flocking to social media dedicated to pope's visit

Large numbers of Catholics in the Philippines are frequenting the official social media site for the visit of Pope Francis in January, following the site's launch earlier this week by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines.

More than 11,000 people were following the Facebook page "papalvisitph2015", which invites users to share a photo of their parish welcoming the pontiff.

"If your parish has posted a photo welcoming the Holy Father to the Philippines, share it with us and we will post it here!" reads the Facebook page invitation.

“If you can have your picture taken holding your message board or paper with your message and/or artwork printed on it for the Holy Father, then share it," it adds.

A Twitter account, @papalvisitph, has also been launched, with close to 200 followers so far.

A website dedicated to the Pope's visit, papalvisit.ph, also went live last month. The site carries news, features, and statements related to the pope's upcoming visit, and a video titled We are all God's Children, the official theme song of the 2015 apostolic visit.

A digital clock counts down the weeks, days, hours, and seconds left before the arrival of Pope Francis.

In a pastoral statement issued on July 7 the Philippine bishops' conference said the underlying spirit of the papal visit to the country is "mercy and compassion”.

Pope Francis will visit the country January 15 to 19, 2015, after a visit to Sri Lanka.

It will be the third time a pontiff has visited the country after Pope Paul VI in 1970 and Pope John Paul II in 1995. 

Source: ucanews.com (Sept. 12, 2014)