Cebu, Philippines, 15 January 2016 - Cebu City, known as the Queen City of the South in Southern Philippines, is gearing up to host more than 15,000 local and international delegates to the 51st International Eucharistic Congress which will take place from January 24 – 31, 2016. The gathering will have as its theme “Christ in you, our hope of glory,” taken from the Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians. It will be the Philippines’ second time to hold the IEC which happens every four years aimed at promoting a greater awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Church.
The choice of Cebu as the next venue for this international gathering was announced by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during a video message at the conclusion of the previous Eucharistic Congress held in Dublin, Ireland in June 2012. Moreover the choice is both timely and historic considering that the city is considered as Asia’s “cradle of Christianity” where the first baptism took place and every third of January it celebrates the gift of the Holy Child, the oldest religious icon in the country.
The Pontifical Committee on International Eucharistic Congress, a Rome-based Commission headed by Archbishop Piero Marini, is leading this ecclesial event but had tapped the Archdiocese of Cebu as host in order to stimulate the faith of the local Catholics in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and challenges them to a more missionary zeal in this part of Asia.
The IEC will open with a Eucharistic Celebration by His Excellency Charles Maung Cardinal Bo, DD, SDB the Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar whom Pope Francis appointed as the Papal Delegate to the 51st International Eucharistic Congress. He will lead the Pontifical Mass on behalf of the Pope in his absence at the Plaza Independencia.
Prior to the Congress proper, a three-day Theological Symposium will take place with about 2,000 expected participants. Among the speakers for the week-long IEC are local and foreign Bishops Piero Marini, Diarmund Martin of Dublin, Joseph Cardinal Zen, SDB of Hong Kong, Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York, Oswald Cardinal Garcias of Mumbai, John Cardinal Onayeikan of Abuja, Nigeria, Rober Baron from the USA and Thomas Menamparampil, SDB from India. Theologians will also be speakers among them Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP, Fr. Francis Moloney SDB and many more.
The 51st IEC will culminate with a Holy Mass at the South Road Properties with an expected crowd of about a million. Papal Delegate Cardinal Bo will preside the closing rites with the “Statio Orbis” on which the next IEC host country will be announced.
