WELCOME APOSTOLIC NUNCIO

(Message delivered by His Eminence Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales during the Welcome Mass for Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, the new Apostolic Nuncio in the Philippines at the Manila Cathedral on November 13, 2007 at 5 p.m.)

The Archdiocese of Manila, the oldest Archdiocese in the Philippines, together with its suffragans and other Local Churches, welcomes His Excellency Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, the new Apostolic Nuncio in the Philippines.

As the Apostolic Nuncio, we welcome you, Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, as the personal representative if His Holiness Pope benedict XVI, in our country.

We believe and we revere that the Holy Father, as elected to the Chair of Peter under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, “is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.” (LG, 23, CCC, 882). True shepherding or leadership for the flock, the Church, for him, is teaching, making holy and serving the flock, in the many difficult circumstances the Church finds itself in today’s cruelly disturbed world.

Encouragingly, his fidelity, his zeal and compassion in leading the Church today provides us with a model in preaching the Good News as longed for in people’s many craving today. We also know that the Philippines has a very special place in the heart of Pope Benedict XVI, especially as our people takes an important role in the mission of evangelization and in spreading the values nearest to the Kingdom of the Father in many places the world over.

As we welcome Your Excellency to the Archdiocese of Manila, we receive you as an elder brother and a friend among us - - - Bishops, Priests, Religious Brothers and Sisters and the Laity of this Local Church. But as the personal representative of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, it is the whole Catholic Philippines, which in representation, is present here at the Manila Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, that welcomes and listens to you.

And so before the Eucharistic Celebration begins, allow me to express our welcome the Pilipino way, MABUHAY AT MALIGAYANG PAGDATING SA INYO, ARCHBISHOP EDWARDS JOSEPH ADAMS.

AT MABUHAY ANG SANTO PAPA!