The Pope’s and the President’s mystique sticks

Two days ago at the Divine Word Seminary in cool, lofty Tagaytay, dozens of priests, seminarians and nuns, two bishops, and one cardinal heard a talk that ought to have been broadcast to Filipino Catholics nationwide on Radio Veritas: veteran Vatican journalist John Allen Jr.’s 90-minute remarks and open forum on Pope Francis and the immense transformation he has undertaken in the Catholic Church.

Next week, my three-part article will present key insights from the morning discussion and afternoon press conference, which were part of the SVD religious order’s celebration of its seminary’s half-century in the Philippines.