MANILA — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo left for Rome Thursday to attend the Friday funeral of Pope John Paul II.

The official delegation that was carried by a chartered flight is composed of Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye; presidential daughter Evangeline Lourdes; Ambassador to the Holy See Leonida Vera; former Ambassador Howard Dee; Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas; Georgina de Venecia, wife of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.; Thelmo Cunanan, SSS chairman; Susanna Vargas, deputy executive secretary for finance; and Linglingay Lacanlale, chief of protocol;
Archbishops Cardinal Ricardo Vidal (Cebu), Fernando Capalla (Davao), Gaudencio Rosales (Manila), and Paciano Aniceto (Pampanga); and Bishops Antonio Ledesma (Zamboanga del Sur), Socrates Villegas (Bataan), Juan de Dios Pueblos (Butuan) and Los Angeles-based Oscar Solis;
Fr. Leonardo Mercado, executive secretary of the Commission for Interfaith of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines; Sisters Maria Luz Mijares, Luz Solijon and Maria Clarissa Belleke of the Association of Major Superiors of the Philippines; and Theresa Tunay, editor of the CBCP Monitor.

Bunye said Cunanan’s wife Belinda would join the group and shoulder her expenses as she is not part of the official delegation.

Asked why First Gentleman Mike Arroyo is not joining the trip, Bunye said he simply goes by the list provided him.

Mr. Arroyo recently hugged the headlines after allegedly receiving complimentary tickets and staying at a posh hotel in Las Vegas during the Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales fight.

The President earlier told reporters in Clark, Pampanga, that the Philippines always had a special place in the Pope’s heart.

“In my visits to the Pope, even before I became president, what always impressed me was that he knew what was happening in the Philippines and he was most especially concerned with having peace and progress and brotherhood and unity in Mindanao,” she said.

Mrs. Arroyo declared a period of national mourning from April 4 until the Pope’s burial, ordering all government offices to put flags at half-staff.

The Pope visited the Philippines in 1981 and 1995, drawing huge emotional crowds. An estimated four million people jammed Rizal Park where he celebrated Mass for the World Youth Day in 1995.

Mrs. Arroyo paid tribute to the Pope, describing him as a “holy champion of the Filipino family” whose death was received with a deep sense of grief and loss by millions of Filipinos.

“The world will miss a great spiritual bridge among all nations that he touched and blessed with his gentle hand. The weak and oppressed will always remember their hero and advocate who sowed peace and love,” she said.