Pope Francis is open to the possibility in visiting the Philippines on 2016 for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress.
The invite was extended by Vice President Jejomar Binay durng a meeting after the Pope’s installation and inaugural mass at the Vatican.
“Probably, then please pray for me,” was Pope Francis response to the Vice President.
Last year, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI announced that the next Eucharistic Congress will be held in Cebu in 2013.
The Philippines last hosted the congress in 1937, with re-evangelization as the central program.
President Aquino asked Binay to represent him and the country at the Papal installation where at least 34 world leaders and representatives from 132 countries were attendees.
Meanwhile, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle arrived in the country from the Vatican after participating the conclave which elected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to become the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide.
Tagle was a reported as a strong contender to become a pope who is seen as a humble cardinal, a good communicator and popular on social media.
But the cardinal explained that his mission in coming to Vatican as part of the 115-member cardinal electorate was to elect the new pope and not to become a pope.
