MANILA: The death of Pope Francis has stirred an outpouring of grief across the Philippines, as many remember his compassionate leadership during one of the nation’s darkest times.

The Argentine pontiff, leader of the Catholic Church since March 2013, died at his residence, Casa Santa Marta, in the Vatican on April 21. He was 88 years old.

In the Philippines, home to Asia’s largest Catholic population, the pope is adoringly referred to as “Lolo Kiko,” or Grandpa Kiko.

He left an indelible mark in the country after a historic four-day visit in January 2015, when he celebrated an open-air mass in Manila that drew more than 6 million devotees, making it the largest papal gathering in history.

But many among the Philippines’ 85 million Catholics were deeply moved by his visit to Tacloban City in central Philippines during the same trip, braving heavy rain to conduct a mass in memory of the more than 6,000 people who perished in Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

“When he visited Manila and Tacloban, especially after the devastation of (the) typhoon, it deeply touched the hearts of so many. He didn’t come as a distant leader, but as a father who wanted to personally console and strengthen us,” Alfredo Navarro III, a seminarian from the diocese of Balanga, told Arab News.

“Filipinos love Lolo Kiko so much because he has shown real concern for us. Not just in words, but in action. He has made it clear that he understands our struggles and is familiar with our culture.”

For Navarro, Pope Francis was a beacon of hope “in a world where it sometimes feels like God is absent because of wars, conflicts and so many struggles.”

“Watching Pope Francis live out the Gospel in such a simple yet powerful way made me realize even more deeply that God is truly present, even in the most broken parts of our world. Through him, I felt God’s love reaching out to me and to everyone,” he said.

“Because of Pope Francis, I feel a stronger calling to be a sign of that same love — to be more present to others, especially to those who are last, the least and the lost.”

World leaders and hundreds of thousands of people bade farewell to Pope Francis in a funeral at the Vatican on Saturday, where he was eulogized as a pope of the people.

Many young Filipinos took to social media to mourn his passing, honoring him as an inspiration and a figure who renewed their faith.

“I do not claim to be a model Catholic. I never was and I do not think I will ever be. But his words, his actions, the way he saw Christ in the last, the least and the lost was fuel to my faith. It was grace made real, alive and living,” Marion Bais Guerrero wrote on Facebook.

Filipino sociologist Athena Charanne Presto said on X that Pope Francis “made being Catholic less morally suffocating, less burdened by contradiction.”

“This is heartbreaking news for the faithful and for those like me who only slowly found their way to faith because someone at the helm reminded us that the Church could also be a place to breathe.”

In Pope Francis, Raymond Zabala saw a leader who touched the lives of many, even those who are not Catholics.

“He respects all people regardless of their religion or status and in the same manner people from other religions respect him as well. I know of some friends who are non-practicing Catholics who are deeply saddened by his passing,” he told Arab News.

“His passing reminded us of the values of kindness and compassion.”

LONDON: The UK government sent the contact details of counterterrorism officials to the Israeli Embassy amid an investigation into a pro-Palestine demonstration, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.

This has raised concerns about foreign interference in the UK’s justice system, with legal experts questioning the involvement of Israeli officials in a British legal matter.

On Sept. 9 last year, an email was sent by the Attorney General’s Office to Israeli Deputy Ambassador to the UK Daniela Grudsky Ekstein.

The email carried the subject line “CPS/SO15 (Crown Prosecution Service/counterterrorism police) contact details.”

It followed the arrest, under the UK’s Terrorism Act, of 10 Palestine Action demonstrators a month earlier.

The demonstrators were arrested after protesting at an Israeli weapons factory based in the UK, with a further eight being arrested in November in relation to the same incident.

The email was sent by Nicola Smith, the AGO’s head of international law. It was obtained through a Freedom of Information request by The Guardian and came 11 days after Smith had met Grudsky Ekstein on Aug. 28.

Aside from the subject line, the content of the email was redacted. Minutes of the meeting between the two officials are available but heavily redacted.

Past disclosures of requests by the Israeli Embassy to the AGO show repeated attempts to intervene in individual British legal cases. The AGO has rejected intervention attempts by the embassy in the past.

In 2023, Douglas Wilson, AGO director general, said in a response to a redacted request from the embassy: “As we noted … the Crown Prosecution Service makes its prosecution decisions and manages its casework independently.

“The law officers are unable to intervene on an individual case or comment on issues related to active proceedings.”

Lydia​ Dagostino from Kellys Solicitors, which is representing several Palestine Action activists, said: “The information disclosed in response to a FoI request clearly raises questions and needs further investigation.

“Why, for example, did the Attorney General’s Office provide the contact details for the Crown Prosecution Service, an independent body, to the Israelis?​

“What further exchanges followed and was there discussions about ongoing criminal prosecutions?​”

International lawyer and academic Dr. Shahd Hammouri​ raised concerns about the evidence obtained by The Guardian “which indicates foreign influence.”

The use of anti-terror legislation by the UK government against the protesters has also caused alarm.

In November, four UN special rapporteurs wrote to the government and expressed concern over the “apparently unjustified use” of terrorism laws against the demonstrators.

The UK’s Terrorism Act 2000 allows people arrested under the act to be detained for up to 14 days without charge.

Those arrested in August were initially held for 36 hours without access to legal representation, the four experts warned. The protesters were then detained for a further seven days.

“Counterterrorism legislation, including the Terrorism Act 2000 and the Terrorism Act 2006, appears to have been increasingly used in the context of domestic support for Palestinian self-determination and political activism against the UK’s foreign policy on the conflict in the occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza,” the letter by the four human rights experts said.

“In particular, members of Palestine Action — a grassroots movement that organizes direct actions against Israeli weapons factories in the United Kingdom — have reportedly been arrested under counterterrorism legislation for conduct that appears to be in the nature of ordinary criminal offenses and does not appear to be genuinely ‘terrorist’ according to international standards.”

The 10 protesters arrested in August have had limited legal support, family visits, healthcare and religious rights while awaiting trial in prison, the letter added.

In response to the communication between the AGO and Israeli Embassy, Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, said: “The timing of this correspondence coincides with the ongoing investigation into Palestine Action activists accused of dismantling the … site of Israel’s biggest arms producer.

“It seems apparent that the Attorney General’s Office has facilitated foreign interference in this case and potentially other ongoing criminal cases.”

A government source told The Guardian: “It has been routine under successive governments for AGO to help embassies get in contact with the relevant authorities purely for purposes of sharing information that could be relevant to a case.

“Decisions to prosecute, convict and sentence are, rightly, made independently of government by the Crown Prosecution Service, juries and judges respectively.”