MANILA - Former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino thought of going on a pilgrimage with her family to the Holy Land of Israel, the birthplace of the Christian faith, before she succumbed to colon cancer on Saturday.

In his homily during a noon Mass for Aquino at the Manila Cathedral on Tuesday, Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle narrated his last phone conversation with the former president.

"I want to go to the Holy Land. I don't know whether I will be able to make another pilgrimage, but I want to go to the Holy Land," Tagle said, repeating Mrs. Aquino's words during their phone conversation.

The bishop said Mrs. Aquino had wanted the pilgrimage "a family affair," and that the former president asked him to come with them. He said he told the former president that he would try to arrange things if the plan pushes through.

However, the bishop no longer received any phone call or text message from the former president. He said he thought that Mrs. Aquino's may have "really worsened." Mrs. Aquino's colon cancer forced her to stay in the hospital for weeks until she passed away on August 1.

"Now Tita Cory, you have reached the Holy Land, and you're not only with Ninoy. You are with the whole Filipino nation in the whole world, accompanying you in their prayers, which is the most beautiful pilgrimage," Tagle said.

The bishop described the former president as a "grain of wheat" thrown into the earth. "I'm sure it will bear a lot of fruit.  Young people have gone out of their homes. We are praying again. We are disciplined again."

Earlier in his homily, Tagle said Mrs. Aquino was truly "a class act."

He said that during his last visit to her, he had asked her about her condition. He said the former president replied: "I had more time to pray, had more time to be with my family."

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," he said, describing his amazement at Cory's religious faith despite the pain she was going through because of the cancer.

Outside the Manila Cathedral, people waited for the reopening of the public viewing of Mrs. Aquino's remains. The public viewing was stopped at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday to give way for a Mass.

The public viewing will be stopped again at 4 p.m. for a necrological service until around 6 p.m..

Mrs. Aquino will be buried beside her husband at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque on Wednesday, August 5.