BARELY 30 minutes after Pope Francis left with his entourage to go back to Rome, I already experienced “withdrawal symptoms” and began to miss him.
For five whole days, we could not do anything except watch him on TV and in one adventurous move, I even tried to catch him by venturing to Roxas Boulevard where all I got was a fleeting two-second glimpse of him, not in his popemobile, but in his Volkswagen car after his Mass at the Manila Cathedral.
But that one brief moment seemed more exciting and memorable for me, compared to my recent two-hour exposure to him when my husband and I saw him at the Vatican Square as part of a general audience on November 19, 2014.
It’s amazing that we were only about 10 meters away from him as he spoke and blessed us and the audience. At that time I felt very special, grateful and privileged just to be in his holy presence.
But why is it that I felt so much closer to him here in Manila, while watching him on TV from the time he stepped out of the plane and his skullcap was blown away until he left four days later carrying a black bag and waving good-bye to all of us?
I couldn’t help, but think that the pope’s visit to the Philippines was what every PR professional like myself would have wanted to be part of, not only because we would have been working with no other than the vicar of Christ and the leader of the Catholic Church, but because this would have been a dream assignment, a lifetime opportunity, and one most unforgettable life-changing experience.
Since I was not fortunate to be part of it, please allow me to do my own evaluation of the recent visit of Francis and give you my 10 reasons why I think it was a major coup for the Catholic Church.
The papal visit to the Philippines was a well-organized, multifaceted communication campaign that brought back attention and appreciation for the faith, the leadership of the Church and even brought back more people to the Church.
On this one objective alone, I think the visit was very successful because it focused the public’s attention on everything positive about the Catholic Church.
From beginning to the end, the pope’s visit captured all the important, necessary and key elements of a fully integrated, massive communications/essential program. In short, they had winning combinations of all elements.
Let me cite those top 10 elements:
1 Widespread pre-arrival awareness build-up. One year before the visit, the news about the papal visit started to build up until it reached its peak in December.
2 Communication tools. All forms of communication tools were utilized to make sure audiences of all ages were reached. These included the papal song, the papal life-sized figures in many churches for the public to be familiar with him, continuous publicity and information about the pope’s personal history, background and all stories to establish what a different pope he is. They also had posters, ads and public-service announcements to remind people that they should follow certain rules for the duration of the visit. They used prominent celebrities to give those pointers. Perhaps that is why it resulted in the disciplined behavior on the part of the public.
3 Carefully planned events calculated to reach as many targeted audiences as possible. From his arrival to every point of his visit, the organizers planned that he would reach specific target audiences.
- Airport arrival—The general public
- Malacañang reception—Government officials and VIPs
- Mass at the Manila Cathedral—All the religious/Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines/priests and allies
- Meeting with families in the Mall of Asia—All Filipino families and the sick
- Tacloban—The victims of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan), the poor
- Meeting with the youth in University of Santo Tomas—Youth and youth leaders
- Mass at the Luneta—The general public, all Filipinos
One unplanned but very noteworthy move was his surprise visit to the children’s shelter of Tulay ng Kabataan, a gesture that showed his consistent concern for the poor.
4 Francis was the best spokesman for the Catholic Church. Pope Francis was the best example of Marshall McLuhan’s “The medium is the message.” One cannot even think of briefing or training this pope to become an effective spokesman for the Church because he does not need it.
The man is genuine, a natural and very sincere which was very obvious from all his actions and words and his very wide smile which charmed everyone without his even trying. My husband described his friendly demeanor as one which is unexpected from a head of state or Church: “He smiles like he’s just meeting a friend, or a relative he hasn’t seen in a while and he welcomes every person so warmly unlike the usual ceremonial greetings of important officials.”
Here was a man, a leader and someone who represents God in the minds and hearts of Filipinos. He was down to earth, right here on the Philippine grounds, occasionally kissing a baby, waving his hands tenderly, wearing a yellow see-through raincoat while saying Mass in Leyte and Rizal Park and hugging the little children who came near him. He was no longer the unreachable image of a pope. He was for real, charismatic and his “Popespeak” was never highfaluting or difficult to understand.
5 The theme: Mercy and compassion was also very easy to relate to and was successfully reflected in every message that Francis gave. My PR colleague Rene Nieva summarizes it this way: “From the PR point of view, the visit of pope Francis was a great success because all the essential elements were there. Firstly, the pope was already widely admired for his personal piety and genuine concern for the poor which struck a chord among Filipinos who are predominantly Catholics and poor. Secondly, the theme mercy and compassion tugs at the heart of Filipinos who are a very personal and emotional people.”
6 The pope’s trusted friends. What struck me was the way Francis and Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle worked together like they were best friends. The two priests were clearly on the same wave length and projected the best intentions of the papal visit.
Fr. Federico Lombardi, the head of the Vatican Press Office who came with the Vatican entourage, was a very credible and informed spokesman. Father Lombardi, whose job was to hold regular news conferences, was responsible for summarizing the day’s events to the media.
One other ubiquitous person who served the pope very well was his very articulate translator, Msgr. Mark Gerard Miles who translated the pope’s impromptu messages with heart. Many could not help but admire the way he assisted the Holy Father without overshadowing him.
7 The popemobile and the security contingent. Personally, I thought that the pope’s security team was a major contributor to the overall warm and human image that the pope projected. Instead of moving and acting like typical “unfeeling” security men whose only aim was to keep the crowd away from the pope, these tall men in black suits displayed their own kindness and concern for the crowds, never pushing them away but often tasked to bring children for the pope to hug. That, to me, was pure affection for the Filipino audiences and it worked. Even the use of the popemobile and the way the security detail moved around was very efficient yet humane.
8 Social media worked incredibly hard. This was another very important factor for the papal visit’s success. Social media and its viral nature did not even have to be planned because as soon as word about the pope leaked out, the online community was abuzz and “covered” every aspect of his activities. Aside from several dedicated Facebook pages, he was the most popular subject on FB, Twitter, Instagram and every possible social media one could use.
Some popular hashtags were: #popeinph, #PopeFrancisPH, #Papalvisitph, #weloveyouPopeFrancis. A priest friend now based abroad posted on his FB page on the day the pope arrived: “Pope Francis may have broken the Internet upon arrival in the Philippines. One site after another are experiencing technical difficulties in streaming the live video. Must be the millions who are watching worldwide…including myself.”
9 Excellent and extensive media coverage. This was an assignment that every media person would have welcomed and the organizers knew that. Each and every member of the Filipino media team who covered the papal visit starting from Rome to Sri Lanka and to the Philippines and then back to Rome again to be with the pope, said the same thing: They were blessed and privileged to have been on his entourage.
All the broadcast stations and their staff who covered every inch and every move of the pope deserve commendation. Some reporters who were covering it live were, likewise, overwhelmed and moved by the mere presence of the Holy Father.
I’m pretty sure there were a lot of mistakes and mishaps behind the scenes but what came across to the public viewing the proceedings was that it was very well-organized and it always left us wanting to see more.
10 The Pope Francis effect. How long will it last? Every communication campaign’s ultimate objective is to generate positive results/action or some kind of favorable impression and effect on the audience. Without benefit of any research or study yet, I believe it is safe to assume that the papal visit’s net effect on millions of Filipinos who saw him during his five-day visit was certainly very positive and raised the level of awareness and new respect for the Catholic Church. At the very least, Francis reaffirmed the power of prayer. And people power, too.
That is why his visit was a coup.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the UK-based International Public Relations Association, the world’s premier association for senior communications professionals around the world. Joy Lumawig-Buensalido is the president and CEO of Buensalido Public Relations Agency. We are devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.com.