The Manila Cathedral on Monday released the names of the 12 young people whose feet will be washed by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle on Holy Thursday, April 18.
Among them is 23-year-old Nicole Anne Perez, who was appointed by Pope Francis as a participant to the 2018 Synod of Bishops on Young People in the Vatican.
Cardinal Tagle will also wash the feet of a Bangladeshi nun named Antonisa of the Missionaries of Charity. The nun has been in the Philippines for the past five years taking care of poor and abandoned children in the Alay ng Puso House in Del Pan, Binondo, Manila.
Another missionary, 23-year-old Joel Obreo of India is also included in the list. He has been in Manila for 10 months now as a missionary under the Ligaya ng Panginoon Community and Christ Youth in Action.
Also on the list is Black Nazarene devotee Jenezis Caliwag. The 25-year-old staff of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene (Quiapo Church) works closely with the Hijos de Nazareno, especially with regard to their spiritual formation. He is also a campus youth animator in St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Novaliches.
A person suffering from cerebal palsy, Carlito Sapunto, is also on the list. Despite this illness, he is a church volunteer at the St. Dominic Savio Parish, Mandaluyong Manila. He is also an awarded player of the sport boccia, a ball sport played by people with disability bound by wheelchair.
Others in the list are newly married couple Ferdinand John and Daisy Jane Azogue, Rafael Villegas, Luna Mirafuentes, Jeffrey Ranola, Jinky Pelopero and Janry Nevado.
Father Reginald Malicdem, rector of the Manila Cathedral, said the 12 were chosen in line with the Year of the Youth celebrated by the Church in the Philippines this 2019 and in view of the coming midterm election on May 13, 2019.
The washing of the feet will take place at the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 5 pm at the Manila Cathedral. (Leslie Ann Aquino)
