TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – How times have changed. Imelda Romualdez Marcos, former First Lady and once considered the most powerful and influential woman in the Philippines, has turned pilgrim. Thanks to Pope Francis’ visit to the Philippines and to Marcos’ home province of Leyte.

At last week’s mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Tacloban, Leyte, Marcos was present, not as former First Lady or Congresswoman or Beauty Queen, but as a pilgrim, just like the thousands of people who attended the papal event on a rainy and windy day.

Miracles do happen. Marcos was even seen wearing a yellow raincoat, a color closely associated with Cory Aquino (and the current president Noynoy) and the opposition that led to ouster of her husband Ferdinand and the family’s exile to Hawaii.

Imelda’s ID tag  says it all: “Pilgrim.”