Sarah Geronimo performs during UAE papal event

“Sarah Geronimo for #papalvisituae2019” (Photo: @iamantoniopapa/Instagram)

Thirty-year-old Filipina singer Sarah Geronimo, also known as “Popstar Royalty” represented her fellow countrymen well, wowing the audience in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) last Tuesday, February 5 as part of Pope Francis’ three-day visit to the country.

Sarah sang songs like “The Prayer,” “The Climb,” “Noypi,” and “Forever’s Not Enough” while dressed in Amato Couture outfits by Furne One, a Filipino designer based in Dubai as seen in one video of her performance even being shared by boyfriend Matteo Guidicelli, who captioned his post “My love is the best!” Matteo also posted a photo of he and Sarah saying, “Super proud of you love. By the way, perfect Italian!” referring to Sarah’s address to the Pope during the show.

Upon entering the Zayed Sports City Stadium, Sarah introduced herself to the audience of 180,000 people, excitedly announcing, “My name is Sarah Geronimo from the Philippines,” adding, “In different parts of the world today, it is time to rise up and spread love and peace… To quote the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi: ‘Where there is hatred, let us sow love. Where is offense, kahit mahirap po (while it is hard), let us forgive.’ Let us be a part to heal the world.”

Prior to her performance, one Twitter account shares that Sarah allegedly refused to accept her talent fee for her appearance, the post stating, “A friend of mine is part of the prod team for the Pope’s UAE visit, he shared that Sarah Geronimo wants to waive her talent fee knowing that she will perform for the Pope but the organizers said that SG should take home what’s stipulated in the contract.”

This isn’t the first time Sarah represented the Philippines on an international stage, recently being part of the Japan-ASEAN Music Festival in Tokyo last October.