Public invited to venerate Saint John Paul II relic

The Filipino faithful will have a chance to venerate the rare relic of Saint John Paul II this weekend, according to a post on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website.

The blood relic of the Filipino's beloved pontiff is encased in a reliquary will be open for public veneration at the Manila Cathedral on Saturday, April 7, and on Sunday, April 8, which is also Divine Mercy Sunday.

On Saturday, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle will lead the 9 a.m. mass at the Cathedral.

The blood relic of Saint Paul II, which was given by Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the pope’s former secretary, as a “gift” to the cathedral for its 60th anniversary of its rebuilding post-war. Photo: Aya Tantiangco.

The reliquary is the exact replica of the one used during the pope’s beatification and canonization at the Vatican.

Cathedral rector Fr. Regie Malicdem said Malicdem said it was crafted by the same company in Rome, the Fratelli Savi Gioielli.

Prayer cards bearing a third class relic, a piece of cloth wiped on the vial, will also be distributed to Mass-goers on Saturday.

The Manila cathedral is one of only seven churches in the world that has custody of a small vial of the pope’s blood.

It was given by Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the pope’s former secretary, as a “gift” to the cathedral for its 60th anniversary of its rebuilding post-war.

Pope John Paul II visited the Philippines twice, in February 1981, for the beatification of the first Filipino martyr, Lorenzo Ruiz, and in January 1995, for the celebration of World Youth Day. — BAP, GMA News