MANILA, Philippines—Filipino Catholics who want to go on a spiritual journey need not fly thousands of kilometers to visit the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome and other centers of the Christian faith.

They don’t even have to leave the metropolis.

Nestled in a quiet street corner in the outskirts of the Makati financial district is the Sanctuary of St. Paul the Apostle, now officially a “pilgrim site” as declared by the Vatican.

“The Sanctuary of St. Paul is now open to receive pilgrims,” said Fr. Gil Alinsangan, rector of St. Paul Seminary in Silang, Cavite province, and a regular at the sanctuary inside the Society of St. Paul compound  on 7708 St. Paul Road in San Antonio Village.

The relatively “young” sanctuary (less than 13 years old) was decreed recently as one of two pilgrim sites in Metro Manila, the other being the Parish of Sts. Peter and Paul, also in Makati City.

“The Vatican said a special indulgence is available to Catholics who visit two pilgrimage sites in the Archdiocese of Manila this year to mark the Year of Saint Paul,” according to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) newsletter.

The St. Paul Novitiate House headed by Fr. Tim Melliza, SSP, Local Superior, launches its “Adopt a St. Paul Program” last July 9 at St. Paul Novitiate Chapel, Sindalan, San Fernando. The said program is in lieu to the celebration of the Pauline Year declared by Pope Benedict XVI as a grateful remembrance of the Bi-Millennium Birth Anniversary of the great Apostle to the Gentiles.

Responding to this call, the St. Paul Novitiate Community invites every family, couple or individual to adopt a St. Paul image for a week. The St. Paul image will be entrusted to a willing sponsor every Sunday after a 7:30am Holy Mass. A special prayer will also be given. In taking the image, one commits to pray to it for the entire week in thanksgiving for the gift of St. Paul in the Church and for his paternal intercession for families.

The first participants of this program are members of the Friends of the Divine Master (FDM) Pampanga, headed by Gie Guarin, who is the first host of the saint. It is expected that the image will be able to visit 100 families by the end of June 2009.