CBCP: More than 130,000 joined Visita Iglesia online

MANILA, Philippines - More than 130,000 joined the Visita Iglesia online, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said.

This is far better from the 40,000 number of visitors who registered last year. Philippine Star said the online version of the Holy Week tradition had fewer registered viewers last year because the website crashed.

Visita Iglesia online, launched by the media office of CBCP, is a website that offers a "virtual experience of celebrating Lent, the Holy Week and Easter at the comfort of one's room."

It was primarily launched for overseas Filipino workers.

Here, users can listen to the pasyon (sung readings of the Gospel account of Christ's Passion), watch videos of the Seven Last Words, read homilies and take part in the Stations of the Cross via a computer with an Internet connection.

"The liturgy is a community act and being so it is most meaningfully celebrated in the context of the community or the parish," CBCP media director Msgr. Pedro Quitorio said in the group's website.

Visita Iglesia Online features 14 shrines and pilgrimage churches, as well as reflections given by Filipino priests. (report from abs-cbnNEWS.com)