‘It’s a dream’: Filipinos in Singapore rejoice at once in a lifetime chance to see pope

The two women and Singaporean engineer Raphael Lau, who will serve as a communion minister during the mass, have taken time off work to serve as volunteers and to rehearse their roles for the first visit by a pope to the island republic in 38 years.

“It’s a dream of all Catholics to meet the pope. Because it’s just like he’s next to God,” Reyes, 52, said. “This is a once in a lifetime story that I can pass to my grandchildren that, ‘Oh, I’ve been there, I’ve seen the pope, I went to the mass. I sang for the pope.’”

Lau, 66, said the visit makes him feel really special. “It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime event for us.” Francis, 87, arrives in Singapore on Wednesday and is set to stay until Friday on the last leg of the longest trip of his papacy, despite concerns about his health.