MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has returned to the Philippines on Monday, after spending his weekend at the Vatican, where he joined other world leaders in the funeral rites of Pope Francis. 

Marcos Jr. arrived at the Villamor Airbase at around 7 a.m., a Palace official said. 

The President is expected to resume work immediately as the government gathers more information about a car-ramming attack during a Filipino festival in Canada, and as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is set to visit the Philippines this week. 

The leader of Asia’s lone predominantly Catholic country earlier said that his attendance at Pope Francis’ funeral was “a gesture of deep respect” from Filipinos.

Catholic Filipinos have been enamored with the late pontiff, who traveled to the Philippines in early 2015 to celebrate mass in Manila and visit typhoon victims in the Visayas.