The Philippines’ Radio Veritas is distributing life size cut outs of Pope Francis for Filipinos to click selfies with him ahead of his visit there in January.

Radio Veritas is a 24-hour Roman Catholic AM station owned and operated by the Archdiocese of Manila.

The station will be the papal radio during the pontiff’s visit.

As a build-up, it is placing the pope’s cutouts at churches, malls and schools to generate what it calls ‘papal fever’.

Students, families and other shoppers were seen snapping pictures of themselves next to the cutout at the country’s largest shopping centre Mall of Asia.

Rev. Anton Pascual, president of Radio Veritas, said: “The standee is the first stage of papal fever we are launching to spread the mercy and compassion message of the Holy Father.”