The leader of the billion-strong Roman Catholic, Pope Francis is trying to learn some “Tagalog” ahead of his visit this week to the Philippines, considered as Asia’s bastion of Catholicism, according to the report posted by the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) stated.
CBCP News noted that Rome-based Bro. Francis Dominic Vergara of Congregation of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate revealed that Pope Francis is trying to learn some basic Tagalog phrases and revealed that the Supreme Pontiff tried Tagalog but he found it difficult.
Bro. Vergara was able to spoke to Pope Francis for two minutes before the Pope’s Te Deum and Vespers last December 31, 2014 where 15 Filipino seminarians were invited to serve the Pope.
According to Vergara, Pope Francis’ presence is more than enough for Filipinos. Meanwhile according to Vatican spokesperson Fr. Federico Lombardi, Pope Francis has been practicing his English skills in preparation for his visit to the Philippines.
All the speeches of Pope Francis in the Philippines will be in English according to Vatican representative, if there will be conversations among the Filipinos, the Pope will reply in English but if there are questions in local dialects, the cardinals will be there to translate.
The National Catholic Register reported that Pope Francis admitted having difficulty understanding foreign languages such as English and prefers not to speak publicly using any language other than Italian.
