HERMOSA, Bataan – The Diocesan Shrine of Saint Pope John Paul II that will soon rise in Barangay Culis here has started its first concrete pouring today, May 7, the Diocese of Balanga Bishop Ruperto C. Santos reported Monday.
Bishop Santos, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines–Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, said the groundbreaking rites for the shrine took place more than two years ago in March 17, 2015.
The groundbreaking rites coincided with the Vatican’s creation of the Diocese of Balanga on March 17, 1975.
“May our almighty God bless the works of our hands and lead us to a successful completion. Amen,” the Bishop said.
The said shrine dedicated and named after the great Pope will be the second in the province.
Back in May 2011, a former refugee camp in Morong town, also of Bataan province, became the site of the Philippines’ first shrine for the late Pope John Paul II.
The Morong shrine was inaugurated at the former Philippine Refugee Processing Center (PRPC) – now Bataan Technology Park, Inc. (BTPI) – in Morong town on May 2, 2011.
In other parts of the world JP2 shrines serve as places of worship, religious formation, and cultural renewal to feed the minds and souls of its visitors. It is a place of pilgrimage some of which with a first-class relic of St. John Paul II’s blood available for veneration.
Through liturgy and prayer, art, cultural events, and religious celebrations, pilgrims can enter into our patron’s deep love for God and for man.
In the United States, the Saint John Paul II National Shrine is a major permanent exhibit that highlights significant events in the life of Pope John Paul II and his momentous influence as the spiritual father of one billion Catholics and as a world leader.