MANILA, Philippines — With Christmas just 10 days away, former Manila Mayor Gemiliano “Mel” Lopez Jr. on Friday recalled the “precious” time he spent with the late Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in Rome 22 years ago. Of the Pope, Lopez said, “he had a special love for children. Christmas was utmost in his mind as it is the birthday of Jesus. To him, Christmas is for children.”

He stressed that the minute spent with the most admired and well-travelled Pope in history “truly left a tremendous mark on him,” adding that Pope John Paul‘s 26 years of papacy left an indelible mark “unsurpassed by anyone else on earth.”

It was 10 days before Christmas in 1989 when Lopez visited the 264th Pontiff at the Vatican, a visit originally scheduled only for five minutes, but it was extended for another 10 minutes when the former mayor mentioned one of his projects, the rehabilitation and maintenance of Boys’ Town, financed and managed by the City of Manila.

Lopez said he discovered Pope John’s special love for children and interest in the welfare of street kids, orphans and offsprings of impoverished families, expressing his concern if they were able to go to schools, get proper medical care and nutrition, and attain a wholesome environment. Throughout his travels, he asked leaders of governments to save destitute and unfortunate children from a bleak future.

During the conversation with Lopez, Pope John Paul also inquired about Smokey Mountain, a then focus of international attention as a symbol of dire poverty in the Philippines, as well as in Asia.

Lopez said he told the Pope his plans to eliminate the mountain of garbage that emitted noxious smoke, endangering the health of surrounding communities. He added that he built a chapel for scavengers and informal settlers in the vicinity, constructed a tall Cross of Christ at the crest of the Smokey Mountain which was lighted and could be seen from kilometers around to symbolize hope and God’s love for mankind.

When Pope John Paul II visited the Philippines on Jan. 15, 1995 to offer mass to an estimated crowd of five to seven million in Luneta during the 10th World Youth Day, the Lopez family attended the mass. The Pope’s visit indeed exuded his charisma, magnetic personality and majestic aura of goodness and love for humanity. Lopez said this inspired him to redouble his efforts as Manila mayor for the welfare of his constituents.

The former mayor said he continued the rehabilitation of the Boys’ Town’s buildings and facilities and children who have sought shelter there were made to fend for themselves, when he assumed the mayoralty in 1986. The youth center was established in Bilibid Viejo in Manila, behind the City Jail in 1945 by City Mayor Manuel de la Fuente and then Police Chief Valeriano Fugoso, and was later transferred to Parang, Marikina.

To rehabilitate the Boys’ Town, Lopez reconstructed the center and conducted a fund-raising campaign among benevolent and affluent private citizens and corporations to augment the financial support of the city government. Due to donated materials and services, the Boys’ Town became once more a true haven for underprivileged youth, orphans and abandoned children.

Lopez added more school buildings and classrooms to the 23-hectare compound, sports facilities, and established livelihood courses to make a decent living for the youths’ adulthood. This campaign got an enthusiastic support of religious organizations of all faiths.

Born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland, Pope John Paul’s love for children was demonstrated by him during the last days of World War II in 1945. At the age of 25, while he was studying for the priesthood in Krakow, Poland, he chanced upon a 14-year-old Jewish refugee girl named Edith Zierer who had run away from a Nazi labor camp.

Edith, who collapsed on a railway platform was found by Wojtyla and carried her to a train and accompanied her to a safe place. According to witnesses, Wojtyla helped protect many Polish Jews from the Nazis and became a fierce defender of what he perceived as Christian humanism in the face of the forces of communism, capitalism, and totalitarian atheism.

Lopez said that Pope John Paul, a Pontiff who loved children, will never be forgotten and will always be remembered, not only by the world, including the Philippines, but by those whose lives he had touched, including Filipinos, especially when Christmas comes around. He is a hard act to follow, Lopez added.