Reuters/Manila

Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Manila yesterday, cheering Pope Francis as he began his first visit to Asia’s largest Catholic nation amid one of the biggest security operations in Philippine history.
The other pontiffs to visit the Philippines were both targets of assassination attempts, prompting the deployment of nearly 50,000 soldiers and police in the capital and in the central Philippine province of Leyte for his weekend trip there.
Earlier this week, the Vatican denied Italian newspaper reports that US and Israeli intelligence officials had informed the Vatican that there could be an imminent attack by Islamist militants.
On Wednesday, President Benigno Aquino personally inspected motorcade routes and public venues, which were lined with black-and-white concrete barriers topped by thick wire mesh to control eager crowds.
Interior secretary Manuel Roxas said Aquino was willing to serve as Francis’ “personal bodyguard” to ensure his safety. In a televised address on Monday, Aquino appealed to Filipinos to follow security rules after two people were killed in a stampede during a religious procession on Friday.
Asked if he was nervous ahead of the Pope’s arrival, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman senior superintendent Wilben Mayor said: “For a long time now, yes. This is very challenging for the PNP.”
In 1970, a Bolivian artist dressed as a priest tried to stab Pope Paul VI when he arrived at Manila airport. The Pope sustained minor chest wounds from the attack.
In 1995, a group of Islamist militants, including the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, conspired to assassinate Pope John Paul II in Manila. But an accidental fire in an apartment in Manila led to the discovery of the bomb plot days before the Pope’s visit.
Aquino said there was no known threat in the country to Francis’ life, but security officials were not taking any chances. Snipers will be positioned at key points around Manila and Tacloban during the trip, with sniffer dogs deployed at sites he will visit.
Asked by reporters aboard the papal plane to Manila if he felt vulnerable to an assassination attempt or an attack, Francis said he was more worried about others rather than himself, and that he was confident about security measures in the Vatican and during his trips.
“I am in God’s hands,” he said, joking about having asked God to spare him a painful death. “If anything should happen to me, I have told the Lord, I ask you only to give me the grace that it doesn’t hurt because I am not courageous when confronted with pain. I am very timid.”
Church bells tolled across the Philippines when the papal plane touched down in Manila, and crowds inside the airport and those lining the streets into the capital jumped, clapped and cheered when Francis stepped out of the plane.
The atmosphere was festive as about 1,500 schoolchildren welcomed the Pope with lively dances, waving white cloth, and red, white and blue umbrellas to form the Philippine flag. Their shirts were printed with the message “Mabuhay (Welcome) Pope Francis!”
Francis hugged two children, both abandoned by their parents, who gave him bouquets of white and yellow flowers.  The orphans were 9-year-old Lanie Ortillo and 10-year-old Mark Angelo Balbero.
“Welcome, Papa Francisco. Please pray for the Filipino people,” Lanie said she told the pope when she handed him the flowers.
“It’s like hugging a relative. I told him that I want my mother to return, and he said he will pray for it. I am so happy,” said Balberos, children, showing off the rosary Francis gave him.
“I want to become a priest one day,” Balberos added.
The 78-year-old pontiff will bring a message of compassion to millions of poor Filipinos suffering from the effects of corruption and decades-old insurgencies.
He will visit the central province of Leyte, which is still struggling to recover from Typhoon Haiyan that killed 6,300 people in 2013. About two million people are expected to attend an open-air mass on Saturday at Tacloban City airport, almost completely destroyed by Haiyan.
In Manila, around 6mn people are expected to hear Francis say Mass at Rizal park, the largest in the capital, on Sunday, likely exceeding the record crowd of 5mn during  Pope John Paul II’s 1995 World Youth Day Mass.
The government has declared a three-day public holiday to clear traffic in Manila, a city of 12mn people, and has even closed financial markets.
 Church bells around the country rang as the Sri Lankan Airlines plane carrying the 78-year-old Argentinian cleric landed at the Villamor Air Base in Manila.
President Aquino led 24 government and Catholic Church officials in welcoming Francis, whose skull cap was blown off by strong winds as he stepped out of the jet to applause and cheers.
Aquino kissed the pope’s ring and briefly chatted with him.
A Swiss Guard later handed back the pontiff’s skull cap.
 “I had goosebumps when I saw him,” said Elvie Ansonayti, who travelled to Manila from the southern region of Mindanao. “I’m so thankful and happy that I saw the most holy man in the world.”
Purisima Rodriguez, 75, was crying as she waved to the pontiff yesterday evening, saying, “It’s very touching. I feel so blessed.”
People had begun gathering along the motorcade’s 22km route early in the morning. They carried signs welcoming the pope, sang religious songs and prayed.
One sign read: “Lowly but chosen.”
One excited Filipino was 77-year-old Flor Morados, who came eight hours before the pope’s scheduled arrival to secure a spot under a flyover just across from the air base.
“I will be happy just to see the plane carrying Pope Francis,” she said. “It will be a blessing if I can shake hands with the holy father.”
Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican Press Office, said the spirit of the welcome showed to the pope how important the visit was for Filipinos.
Lombardi said a key purpose of the trip is to provide comfort for millions who suffered from Typhoon Haiyan, which killed 6,300 people and wiped out communities in the eastern Philippines in 2013.
“The occasion for this coming is the tragedy of the hurricane in the past year and then the desire to come to be present, to encourage and to help spiritually ... all the people that have suffered and still suffer from this disaster and other problems ... from natural and social causes in this society,” he said.
Francis will visit Tacloban, the eastern city worst hit by Haiyan, on Saturday. He will celebrate Mass, have lunch with survivors of the typhoon and an earthquake in October, and open a centre for the poor in nearby Palo town.
 “This year, this will be the greatest security nightmare that we can have,” said the armed forces’ chief of staff, general Pio Catapang.
The government has imposed a liquor ban during the visit.
Francis is the third pontiff to visit the Philippines, Asia’s largest predominantly Catholic country. More than 80% of the nation’s estimated 100mn people adhere to the religion.