Millions of Filipinos participated in the eight-day International Eucharistic Congress held in Cebu, Philippines last week where events drew enormous numbers of the faithful.

CNA/EWTN News is reporting on the week’s events which drew massive crowds which totaled over one million in several instances.

For instance, an estimated 1.5 million attended a Mass and liturgical procession on Friday where a Mass was celebrated on the grounds of the Cebu Provincial Capital.

“We are called to understand, love and assimilate the very love of Jesus… Our lives too must be offered in sacrifice,” said Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin in his Jan. 29 homily.

“There is no Church without the Eucharist. The Eucharist constructs the Church,” he said, adding that a Eucharistic community must always be a caring one.

The Mass was concelebrated by hundreds of priests and bishops including Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon, the papal legate to the congress; Archbishop Bernardino Auza, who heads the Holy See’s permanent observer mission to the United Nations; and Archbishop Piero Marini, head of the pontifical commission on the International Eucharist Congress.

The following day, five thousand boys and girls received their first Holy Communion at the Cebu City Sports Complex.

An estimated 12,000 people took part in the events of the congress, which is held every four years and aims to witness to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York told Vatican Radio that the Eucharistic congress shows “the power of other people.”

“It’s the power of seeing them trying their best to live their faith. And I think that’s the genius of Catholicism: we’re not in this alone.”

On Sunday, at least one million people attended the Statio Orbis Mass, the Stations of the World Mass that closes the Congress. The name of the Mass refers to the global nature of the gathering.

Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon was the closing Mass’ principal celebrant and said the Philippines “will become light not only to Asia but to the whole world.”

He went on to encourage Filipinos to have large families. Even though Christianity in the West is experiencing a twilight, the Philippines could bring about a “new dawn.”

“Multiply your children. Multiply your missionaries. Go to Europe and America, there they have more cats and dogs!” he said.

Pope Francis addressed the gathering by video message saying that the Eucharist should inspire the faithful to follow the example of Christ in “reaching out to others, in a spirit of respect and openness, in order to share with them the gift we ourselves have received.”

He then announced the site of the next International Congress, which will take place in Budapest in 2020.