Media's Role During the Papal Visit PH

On May 27, 2014, Pope Francis expressed his intention to visit the Philippines in a press conference after his visit to Israel. However, no official announcements have been made after but on July 29, 2014, the official student publication of the University of Santo Tomas released an article entitled “Papal visit set on January 15-19, 2015”. This announcement made a lot, if not all Filipino Catholics in high spirits that after almost 20 years, the Vicar of Christ will again embark on an Apostolic Visit to the country.

The 2015 Papal visit Philippines itinerary was released not until November 14, where Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle formally announced it during a CBCP Conference. After its announcement, religious organizations, local church communities and government sectors became very driven to prepare and reintegrate the nation for the visit of His Holiness, Pope Francis. Though, it wasn't only the government and the church that were preparing for the Papal Visit, even the mass communications and social media were preparing as well. In fact, media played a very important role before, during and after the visit of the Supreme Pontiff. 

After the CBCP officially announced the Papal Visit to the Philippines on January 2015, news channels began to showcase the preparations made by the Filipinos for this historical event. There were times when they would show children from different Church or school communities rehearsing their song or dance number that they will perform during certain events of the Papal Visit. There would also be days when a newsreporter would interview Cardinal Tagle, Bishops and priests across the country on how they have been preparing for his visit. However, not only did the media present the nation's preparations for the Papal Visit, but also did they present mini biographies and some interesting facts about Pope Francis. If television showed us viewers how the country prepared for the visit, social media on the other hand showed us who is the Pope written in creative ways for us netizens to enjoy reading. Bloggers would create interesting blog titles such as "18 things you didn't know about Pope Francis" (this is just a made up article title) and the content of the article are written in numbered form with brief explanations to explain each number. Then, these blog articles would be shared via facebook, twitter and other social media websites. In this way, people are able to know more of the Pope's personality and humble ways. At least before he visits our country, we know a little bit of something about him!

The week of his arrival, papal visit updates filled the headlines of every local news channel. For someone who is used to seeing crimes and government officials' controversies, this was very refreshing. On the day of the Supreme Pontiff's arrival, local networks aired live telecasts of the proceedings at the Villamor Air Base, where the plane of the Pope will touchdown. The media also set up cameras and assigned news reporters in certain roads where the Pope will be passing by coming from the Villamor Air Base. Filipinos who were not physically present during the Pope's arrival was able to feel his presence just by watching him on television. For the five days the Pope was in the Philippines, local television networks provided live streaming of what was happening in most events the Pope attended to. 

However, there were instances in some of the events that got the social media talking where some even complained about. One instance was after the concluding mass of the Pope held in Quirino Grandstand, the priest who served as the emcee supposedly destroyed the solemnity of the event. With the great power of social media, filipino netizens bashed the priest for allegedly making a "variety show" out of the event. Because this has been such a heated topic online, it caught the attention of local news channels and even the priest himself, wherein after he sincerely apologized for his mistake. This was not the only instance that received negative feedbacks, there were a lot more. In fact, not only were certain people bashed, but even media itself was bashed by some netizens. News commentators and radio broadcasters failed to emphasize the Pope's stands on the social issues our country's currently facing rather, they focused on how cute and how genuine his smile is, which is undeniably true but that is not what the Pope wants to instill in us Filipinos, it's the messages of his homilies and speeches is what he wants us to focus on. Local news network failed to deliver this generally. 

After the Pope's departure for Rome last January 19, media still continued to cover news regarding the Papal Visit. Radio stations would interview priests where they would talk about their insights regarding the Pope's visit and all the important messages the Pope relayed to our country. Media would replay the touching moments of Pope Francis with the people and social news network would list down the quotable quotes of the Pope in his speeches during his visit. Despite the lack of emphasis on the stands of the Supreme Pontiff of the local media, they still somehow did an okay job and yes, just okay because "good" would be an overstatement. But overall, the entire Papal Visit was a success and remained peaceful, and thankfully no one attempted to cause any turmoil during the Pope's stay in the Philippines. Let's just hope that the Pope's visit to our country strengthened and deepened our faith, that the messages of the speeches of Pope Francis remind us to do the best we can to help and reach out to others as much as we can and still stay humble. Also, we should be thankful that the Vicar of Christ took time and effort to visit our country so that we can see him, instead of us going to Rome that not all of us can afford.