Manila Apostolic Administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo on Saturday urged the faithful to join the online Bible Festival which starts on Sunday (January 24).

He said the online activities including a Bible Conference can be accessed through the Facebook page of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Biblical Apostolate (CBCP-ECBA) and the Philippine Bible Society (PBS) which starts at 2 p.m.

Pabillo said the program is for Filipinos to give importance to prayer and reading the word of God.

He also asked Catholics to use social media to spread the word of God.

“There are many activities to held featuring Catholics at Protestants and we are also urging everyone to share something about the bible during the time for the people to feel the importance of the Bible,” Pabillo said in an interview over Church-run Radio Veritas. “So, anybody who will open their Facebook, Instagram and they would see something about the bible. That’s why we ask everybody to participate.”

He said the country is known for giving importance to the Bible.

The National Bible Sunday is celebrated every third Sunday of January which started in 1982, which is observed by both Catholics and Protestants.

In 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte declared the month of January as Bible Month through Proclamation 124.

A year later, Duterte signed Republic Act 11163 declaring the last Monday of January a special working holiday in observance of the National Bible Day. (PNA)