Pope Francis leaves Sri Lanka for PHL

Published January 15, 2015 11:26am

(Updated 12:04 p.m.) Pope Francis on Thursday left Sri Lanka before noon to fly straight to the Philippines for a five-day apostolic visit, the second leg of his Asia tour.

In a live report aired on GMA News TV Live, Pope Francis was seen boarding a SriLankan Airlines plane that would transport him straight to Manila.

GMA News reporter Kara David said the plane was scheduled to leave Sri Lanka at 9 a.m. (11:45 a.m. Philippine time) and is expected to arrive in the Philippines at 5:45 p.m.

However, the plane left earlier, before 11:30 a.m.

Upon arrival at the Villamor Air Base, Pope Francis is set to be welcomed by President Benigno Aquino III, some of his Cabinet members and religious leaders from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

The Pope will then hold a motorcade on his way to the Apostolic Nunciature on Taft Avenue, Malate, Manila.

Events organizers and police authorities have earlier estimated that the motorcade will last for three hours until the Popemobile reaches the Nunciature.

As early as Thursday morning, about 3,000 Catholics, mostly youths, began lining up outside Villamor Air Base to serve as human barricade for the papal motorcade.

During his two-day visit to Sri Lanka, Pope Francis visited a Church-founded, post-war reconstruction institute before boarding a flight to the Philippines. On Wednesday night he became only the second pope to visit a Buddhist temple.

Pope Francis also canonized Blessed Joseph Vaz, Sri Lanka's first saint. — Elizabeth Marcelo with a report from Reuters/KG/RSJ, GMA News

Tags: popefrancis, popefrancisphlvisit