Tacloban City, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – An official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) gave a piece of advice to Filipinos planning to attend the Masses to be celebrated by Pope Francis during his visit to the country in January.

“Bring your own food and drinks,” Fr. Marvin Mejia, CBCP secretary general, said during a recent press briefing. “There are logistical support being done but with the number of people expected to come… we are expecting thousands so it would be very, very difficult to find food,” Mejia said.

Devout Catholics immediately criticized Mejia’s statement, saying that it seems the CBCP official hasn’t read the bible. They reminded Mejia about two separate stories in the New Testament where Jesus multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish that fed thousands of followers who came to listen to him speak near Galilee, and created barrels of wine at a wedding party in the town of Cana where the hosts ran out of wine for their guests.

“Fr. Mejia seems to be a man of little faith,” said one resident of Tacloban who looks forward to attending the mass to be celebrated by Pope Francis at the Tacloban City airport. “The Pope can replicate what Jesus did, and I am not worried about not having anything to eat or drink,” he said.

Tacloban was the hardest hit when typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) devasted many towns and cities in Central Philippines last year.