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3 DENVER CATHOLIC | JANUARY 24-30, 2015 Vatican Notes BIBLICAL S C H O O L D E N V E R C A T H O L I C Servant of the Word Weekend 2015 Servant of the Word Award Recipient Fr. Michael Gaitley Bestselling author of Consoling the Heart of Jesus and 33 Days to Morning Glory Friday February 13, 2015 Award Banquet and Silent Auction Four Seasons Hotel, Denver Saturday February 14, 2015 Workshop Christ the King Parish, Denver For more information and to register: www.regonline.com/sotw2015 CNA/EWTN News — The Vatican's spokesman said that papal history was made Jan. 18 during Pope Francis' visit to the Philippines where an estimated 6-7 million people attended his closing Mass. "The o' cial number that has been given to us is between six and seven million," Father Federico Lombardi told journalists at a press conference in Manila that day, calling it the "largest event of the history of the popes." In his homily for the closing Mass, Pope Francis called for the protection of the family against the numerous attacks that threaten it. "Sadly, in our day, the family all too often needs to be protected against insid- ious attacks and programs contrary to all that we hold true and sacred, all that is most beautiful and noble in our culture." Pope Francis spoke to millions of Filipinos gathered at Rizal Park in Manila at the fi nal public event during his Jan. 15-19 trip to the country. The Mass marked the largest papal event in history, surpassing the 1995 World Youth Day in Manila with St. John Paul II, which drew 4-5 million people. Huge crowds have turned out for the pope's Masses and public events in the Philippines, where 86 percent of the pop- ulation identifi es as Catholic. In recent years, the island country has struggled with the effects of several typhoons, earthquakes and other natural disasters. During his apostolic visit, the pope deviated from both his o' cial schedule and prepared speeches—meeting with impoverished children from the streets and going o" -the-cu" in remarks to fam- ilies on the dangers of contraception and redefi ning marriage. History made! Philippine crowd for Pope Francis hits 6-7 million Details of pope's US visit revealed CNA/EWTN News— Archbishop Bernardito Auza, a member of the organizing committee for Pope Francis' September visit to the U.S., revealed details of the proposed schedule, which includes visits to three cities. "He would arrive on the 22nd and he would leave the evening of the 27th," Archbishop Auza told Catholic News Agency. After a projected arrival to Washington, D.C., Sept. 22, they're pro- posing that Pope Francis visit the White House the next morning, followed by celebrating Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. "And we might say really the highlight of the Washington visit might be his speech to the joint meeting of Congress," Archbishop Auza said. Pope Francis would leave for New York City on the 24th. The U.N. gen- eral-assembly would be his destination the morn- ing of the 25th, which is also the opening of the three-day Post-2015 Sus- tainable Development Summit, expected to include several heads of states and governments. The papal address at the U.N. would take up the morning of Sept. 25, Archbishop Auza said. He added that proposals for what the ponti" may do afterward include an interreligious meeting, and visits to St. Patrick's Cathedral and "Ground Zero." "But these are just proposals. At the end of February there will be the fi rst organizational visit (from a Vatican delega- tion), and then we will see what we could really fi ll in," he said. From New York the pope would head to Philadelphia on the 26th, where he is set to participate in the World Meeting of Families Sept. 26-27. NEWS IN BRIEF Pope Francis waves to the crowd after celebrating Mass at Tacloban Airport Jan. 17 in Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines. The pope's Jan. 15-19 visit to the country attracted millions of people. Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images News

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