The nation intensified security at all venues, with the presidential detail deployed to safeguard the pope.
About 25,000 Philippine national police are backing the presidential security detail tasked with safety for the event, authorities said.
“We are putting our best foot forward in this historic national event,” said Leonardo A. Espina, the deputy director general of the national police.
–
“Here in the Philippines, countless families are still suffering from the effects of natural disasters. The economic situation has caused families to be separated by migration and the search for employment, and financial problems strain many households,” he said.
“While all too many people live in dire poverty, others are caught up in materialism and lifestyles which are destructive of family life and the most basic demands of Christian morality,” the pope said in other remarks.
The pope leaves Manila for Rome on Monday.
