Pope Francis is to visit the Philippine region devastated by Typhoon Haiyan last year, where 4 million people remain homeless, when he makes his second trip to Asia in January next year, the Vatican said on Friday.
During the trip set to run from Jan. 12 to Jan. 19, he plans to spend two days in Sri Lanka, to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, one of the nation’s most important Catholic sites.
The pope is scheduled to spend five days in the Philippines — Asia’s largest Roman Catholic nation — according to a Vatican program of the trip.
He plans to devote one day to Tacloban, where 6,300 people died last year during Typhoon Haiyan. He also plans to celebrate a Mass, meet survivors and inaugurate a new Catholic Church-run center for the poor, according to the program.
Haiyan destroyed 90 percent of he city of Tacloban on Nov. 8 last year. The storm affected more than 14.5 million people in six regions and 44 provinces.
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