Mangalore:The Bishop of Mangalore Most Rev. Dr. Aloysius Paul D’souza laid the foundation stone for the shrine of Blessed John Paul IInd at Pope grounds, Bajpe.
Speaking on the occasion the Bishop said “When the Pope visited Mangalore in 1986 about 5lakh people had gathered. They were very eager to see him because the Pope lead the life of a true disciple of Jesus Christ. He inculcated the value of Jesus in his life. We will feel his presence amidst us after the shrine will built and soon he will declared as the Saint since the miracles have been reported across the world.”
The Vicar Jeral of the Diocese of Mangalore Msgr. Dennis Moras Prabhu, Fr. Onil Dsouza, Fr. William Menezes, Vicar of the Pezar deanery Rev.Fr. Remejius Aranha, Parish Priest Fr. Leo lobo, Asst. Parish Priest Fr. Praveen Dsouza, Vice-President of the Parish Council Mr.Rocky Lobo, Secretary Mrs. Gracy Sequeira, ICYM President Roshan Periera were present at the occasion.
The Shrine will be built by the diocese of Mangalore in association with the Bajpe Parish to commemorate the visit of Blessed Pope on February 6th 1986. It will be built next to the podium from which the Popo had addressed 5 lakh people.
The podium has been preserved as a historical monument and a statue of the Pope is already installed.
The ground where the Pope Made the historic speech is called as the Pope ground and a lay-out called Pope lay-out of houses has already been built.