More than 1,000 people welcomed the hair relics of Blessed John Paul II at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on November 12.

Monsignor Paul Russell, Taipei-based charge d’affaires of the Holy See, escorted the relic from the Vatican to Hong Kong and passed it to Bishop John Tong Hon, who then celebrated a solemn Mass, concelebrated by some 20 priests.

In his homily, Bishop Tong highlighted two “outstanding features” of the late pope: his love and concern for the Church in China and for young people.

Since there are millions of tourists from China visiting Hong Kong every year, the prelate hoped mainland Catholics would also come to “pay tribute to the relic and model on the late pope.”

The relic, inlaid in a Gothic-style monstrance, is placed permanently inside the cathedral.

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