Though he had his prepared speeches written in English with him, Pope Francis in several instances during his stay in the country has opted to go off script and delivered his messages to the Filipino faithful spontaneously in Spanish.

 

Vatican spokesperson Fr. Federico Lombardi said this was because Pope Francis “desires to speak from the heart” than from the mind.

 

“Every time that we are in a particularly intense situation, the Pope desires to speak from the heart,” Lombardi was quoted by the Catholic News Agency as saying during a press briefing Saturday night.

 

The report said that Lombardi cited as example the Pope's decision to speak in Spanish during his homily at the Holy Mass in Tacloban City in order to fully express his message to the victims of super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) and the quake in Bohol.

 

“This morning it was not possible to have a longer time, (but) then the Pope did a synthesis from his heart and that was sufficient for the people present,” Lombardi said, referring to the Pope's heartfelt homily during the Tacloban Mass.

 

During Pope Francis' homily, Mass attendees, majority of whom were from the areas greatly devastated by Yolanda, were seen wiping off their tears, especially when the Pope said he doesn't have the right words to console them.

 

“So many of you have lost everything. I don’t know what to say to you. But the Lord does know what to say to you. Some of you have lost part of your families. All I can do is keep silent...But please know, Jesus never lets you down. Please know that the love and tenderness of Mother Mary never lets you down,” Pope Francis told the crowd who braved the downpour to attend the Mass. 

 

During his encounter with the families at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Friday, Pope Francis even asked permission to speak in Spanish, saying: “My English is so poor” which drew laughter from the crowd.

 

At the jampacked Arena, Pope Francis called on the families to continue dreaming for each other.

 

“To dream how will your daughter or son be. It is not possible to have a family without such dreams...When you lose this capacity to dream then you lose the capacity to love and this energy to love is lost,” Pope Francis said.

 

The pontiff even gave a candid advise to the married couple,which was not included in his prepared English speech: “If we think of our husband or wife, are we dreaming about the good qualities that they have? Don't ever lose the illusion of when you were boyfriend or girlfriend.”

 

According to Lombardi, as Pope Francis is more fluent in Spanish, the pontiff decided to use this language in order to fully expressed what was in his heart.

 

“Sometimes he feels that he can express still better what he has in the heart through spontaneous expression in Spanish, sometimes in Italian,” Lombardi said as quoted by the CNA report, adding that it was “wonderful” that the Pope has a very good translator.

 

Meanwhile, while his homily during his Mass at the Manila Cathedral last Friday was delivered in English, Pope Francis also had some candid moments, especially when the Mass attendees responded “yes!” to the biblical question “Do you love me?” which Pope Francis read at the start of his homily. This made Pope Francis laughed and responded “Thank you very much.”

 

And during his “encounter with the youth” at the University of Santo Tomas Sunday morning, Pope Francis delivered another heart-felt impromtu message, challenging the youth to “learn how to weep” for the poor and the marginalized and to let onself “be loved.”

 

The Pope also pushed for women's greater role in society and crticized the culture of machismo.

 

“Women are capable of seeing things from a different angle, with a different eye. Women are able to pose questions that we, men, are not able to understand," Pope Francis said.

 

Truly, Pope Francis always finds a way to deviate from the protocols in order to reach out to more people.

 

As Pope Francis earlier said during an address in Rome in November last year: “Realities are more important than ideas...newness of your experiences does not consist in methods or forms...but rather in your willingness to respond with renewed enthusiasm to the Lord’s call.” — Elizabeth Marcelo/RSJ, GMA News