About 500 Negrenses gathered at the Bacolod City Public Plaza yesterday afternoon for the canonization as saints of popes John XXIII and John Paul II.

Before the gathering at the public plaza, a caravan participated in by about 100 vehicles also drove through the main streets of Bacolod to celebrate the canonization of the two popes.

Although there was no live video streaming of the canonization as promised, the ongoing mass at the Vatican was played through loud speakers at the public plaza while portraits of the two popes decorated with flowers were also displayed at the bandstand.

Among those who waited for the canonization of the popes was Rose Jessica Octaviano, who had a close encounter with St. John Paul II during his visit to the Philippines in 1995 for the World Youth Day.

Octaviano recalled that she was one of the two representatives of the Pax Cristi Philippines, a peace advocacy group, at the International Youth Forum at the University of Santo Tomas before the WYD celebration when the former pope held a mass.

She said she received Holy Communion from St. John Paul II, who also gave her a Holy rosary that she keeps until now.

Octaviano added that until now, she cannot believe that she had a close encounter with the former pope who is now a saint.

Like Octaviano, Carmen Tan, also received a Holy Rosary from St. John Paul II in 1999 when she visited the Vatican as part of the Philippine contingent who presented the proposal of putting up the National Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family.

Tan, who is now the assistant academic dean of the institution, said she wept for no reason as she went back to her seat after receiving the Holy Rosary.

Meanwhile, 77-year-old Dioscora Dumit-sig of Brgy. 10, Bacolod, said she is praying to the new saints to give her and her family good health.

John Vic Aballa, 11, a grade 4 student, said he only knew the two new saints through the stories told to him by his parents, but he believes that through them, his prayers for himself and his family will be realized.

Msgr. Victorino Rivas , rector of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Shrine, who presided over a mass in Bacolod after the canonization of the two popes, posed a challenge to every Negrense to emulate the love and the compassion the new saints showed in their life time.*APN

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