'Visita Iglesia' site breaches 40K mark early

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines' online "Visita Iglesia" breached the 40,000-visitor mark early Wednesday, as it promises to be a bigger hit than last year. As of 8 a.m., the counter on the site www.visitaiglesia.net indicated at least 40,959 had already logged on to it. It was a 20,000-visitor increase in two days, as the site had attracted some 21,219 visitors as of 9:37 a.m. Monday. Last year's Visita Iglesia site had attracted 47,473 visitors. While the old CBCP address www.cbcponline.net/visitaiglesia is still active, it will redirect visitors to the updated Visita Iglesia site. During last year's Holy Week, visits to the site peaked on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday, causing the site to occasionally slow to a crawl, or be downed by "technical difficulties." The CBCP launched this year's "Visita Iglesia" site last April 1, for overseas Filipino workers who could not make it home and Catholics who cannot physically make the traditional church visit. This year's site features many improvements from the old site, including a YouTube introduction, and catechisms on Lent, the Holy Week and Easter. It also had added features like the Pasyon and Seven Last Words, as well as homilies - but also links to its commercial sponsors as well. — LBG, GMA News