June 1, 2025 – The glorious and solemn Latin liturgy of Pope Leo’s inaugural Mass on May 18 at St. Peter’s Square in front of the Basilica in the Vatican was attended by Kings, world leaders and dignitaries along with hundreds of thousands of the faithful from around the world.
This celebration with the pomp and pageantry of centuries old church rites and traditions honored a simple and humble missionary priest – Father Robert Francis Prevost of the Americas who was unknown to most of the world before the conclave.
For most of us watching for a white smoke from the conclave, the announcement of his name as Pope Leo XIV on May 8th was a happy and holy surprise. Unlike Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle (pronounced TAH-gleh) who was known as the “Asian Francis” and thus a papabile, he was never mentioned as a possible candidate for pope. But on the second day of the conclave, he was unanimously elected. After reading everything I could find about him, I thanked the Holy Spirit for guiding the cardinals to elect the right pope for our dark and troubled times. The conclave was not a popularity contest but a divine intercession from up there who loves us even though we may not understand the whys of His ways.
Pope Leo's 20-year experience as a missionary priest caring for and walking with the poor and the neglected in Latin America, particularly Peru, made him the perfect shepherd for a world that's going astray with wars, avarice and corruption. Now he has to bring back to the fold, not only “a church arguing within itself” but “a world in need and starving for meaning”. (Google Pope Leo XIV || A Big Surprise To All Catholics On May 18 Is Coming || Robert Francis Prevost)
Thank you all for joining our prayer campaign. Let's continue praying for Pope Leo to bring peace and justice to our land. He needs prayers now more than ever because he now carries not only the burdens of 1.4 billion Catholics and the church but also the world’s.
Editor of Canadian Filipino Net
Eleanor R. Laquian has written four best-selling books, and co-authored four others with husband Prod Laquian. She has served in various capacities at the University of British Columbia’s Institute of Asian Research as manager of administration and programs; editor and chair, publications committee; and primary researcher of the Asian Immigration to Canada project. She has a degree in journalism from Maryknoll College in the Philippines, and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of the Philippines. She did postgraduate studies at the School of Public Communications, Boston University in the U.S.
She has been researching and writing about Filipino immigration to Canada since 1969. For her Master's degree in Public Administration at the university of the Philippines, she conducted in 1972 the first, and up to now, the only nationwide survey of Filipinos in Canada. It was done by mailed questionnaires with self addressed stamped envelopes for replies and followed up by personal in depth interviews of respondents who agreed to be interviewed, Interviews were done on a two-week drive from Ottawa to Vancouver in the summer of '72.
Her Master's thesis was published in 1973 in Ottawa by the United Council of Filipino Associations in Canada. It was titled A Study of Filipino Immigrants in Canada, 1962 - 1972. As the primary researcher of UBC Institute of Asian Research immigration Project, she edited in 1998 a book titled The Silent Debate: Asian Immigration and Racism in Canada published by UBC. In 2005 she co-authored with her husband a book to update her MA thesis and titled it Seeking a Better Life Abroad: A Study of Filipinos in Canada 1957 - 2007. It was published in 2008 by Anvil Publishing in Manila.In 2023 she edited Indomitable Canadian Filipinos, a book on the 70-year history of Filipinos in Canada, published by Friesen Press in Manitoba, Canada.
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