Cebu to be the site of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in 2016!

Pope Benedict XVI during Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament at the end of the Corpus Christi procession in Rome, June 7, 2012. Photo from Daylife. 

From the Message of the Holy Father at the end of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, Ireland:

My dear brothers and sisters, I pray that the Congress will be for each of you a spiritually fruitful experience of communion with Christ and his Church. At the same time, I would like to invite you to join me in praying for God’s blessing upon the next International Eucharistic Congress, which will take place in 2016 in the city of Cebu! To the people of the Philippines I send warm greetings and an assurance of my closeness in prayer during the period of preparation for this great ecclesial gathering. I am confident that it will bring lasting spiritual renewal not only to them but to all the participants from across the globe. In the meantime, I commend everyone taking part in the present Congress to the loving protection of Mary, Mother of God, and to Saint Patrick, the great patron of Ireland; and, as a token of joy and peace in the Lord, I willingly impart my Apostolic Blessing.

There had been speculation since last year that the 51st IEC will be held in Cebu. See my blog post: Is the canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod at hand? And will Cebu be the site of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress?