BLESSING: Pope Francis blesses Dompok and wife Puan Sri Diana, and the rosaries.
PENAMPANG: For Catholics, meeting the Pope once in their life time would be a dream come true. Tan Sri Bernard Dompok was in the Vatican four times, and had an audience with three pontiffs.
“Each time, the experience is different yet somehow the same. It has a calming effect, one which we could feel deep inside us, for days,” he said.
LEADERS MEET: Dompok meets US Vice President Joe Biden at the St Peter’s Square.
The Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities was speaking to reporters after arriving here yesterday from the Vatican where he led a Malaysian delegation for last Tuesday’s inauguration of Pope Francis as the Catholic Church’s 266th pontiff.
“It was solemn. Wonderful. After the Inauguration Mass, the pontiff took time off to meet all the state representatives. It was both very touching and unravelling at the same time.
“My wife (Puan Sri Diana) was with me for the audience in front of St Peter’s tomb inside the St Peter’s Basilica. We requested the Pope to bless our rosaries. He obliged. And he asked us to pray for him. It all lasted about a couple of minutes, but it felt like eternity. To us, it was a very special moment.”
Dompok, who is also Upko president, revealed that the recent trip meant he had met three popes, namely Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVII and Pope Francis in the last decade.
“I was in a delegation led by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed to meet Pope John Paul in 2002. That was the time we brought up the subject of diplomatic ties,” he said.
Dompok led a Malaysian delegation for Pope John Paul’s funeral in 2005. He was also part of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s envoy to cement the diplomatic ties by meeting Pope Benedict three years ago.
“I am honoured to have been asked to represent the country. This trip is different in the sense that Malaysia has now joined the ranks of countries with diplomatic ties with the Vatican,” he added.
Malaysia and the Vatican are progressing well in efforts to further strengthen their budding diplomatic ties, said Dompok who is optimistic about the relationship will spur the countries to continue bestowing one and all their due regardless of creed and ethnicity.
“Our diplomatic ties with the Vatican are blossoming especially after it was formalised in July 2011. We are progressing well… this can only be a positive development for us and the Holy See,” he said.
Malaysia was among the 132 countries which on Tuesday sent their representatives for the historic event at the St Peter’s Square, attended by some 200,000 people from all over the world.
The relationship enabled Malaysia to be among those seated nearest to the Pope during the inauguration, together with world representatives including from Argentina, the United States of America and the Philippines, he said, adding “I was flanked by delegates from Iraq and Mozambique”.
Dompok said, last January, Pope Benedict had appointed Archbishop Joseph Marino, an American, to be Apostolic Nuncio for Malaysia based in Kuala Lumpur. He is also nuncio for East Timor as well as Apostolic Delegate for Brunei.
“Actually Malaysia has had good ties with the Holy See for decades. That’s why we have had missionaries on our shores as early as in the 50s. During Pope John Paul’s funeral, we were accorded special treatment even though we did not yet have any diplomatic ties,” he said.
Dompok’s delegation included Malaysian ambassadors to the Vatican and Italy, Dato’ Ho May Yong and Datin Paduka Halimah Abdullah respectively, as well as his Special Tasks Officer Albert Bingkasan.