Yahoo – AFP, Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere, Cecil Morella, 18 Jan
2015
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Pope
Francis (top L) kisses a child as he arrives to celebrate a mass
at a park in
Manila on January 18, 2015 (AFP Photo/Ted Aljibe)
|
Manila
(AFP) - Pope Francis drew a record six million people as he celebrated mass in
the rain-swept Philippine capital Sunday, a triumphant finale to an Asian tour
in which he championed the plight of the poor.
Filipinos
are famous for practising a passionate brand of Catholicism and they turned out
in a celebratory mood that defied the gloomy skies, determined to see the
charismatic 78-year-old pontiff.
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Hundreds of
thousands of people gather in
the rain to wait for a mass to be celebrated
by
Pope Francis at a park in Manila on
January 18, 2015 (AFP Photo/Giuseppe
Cacace)
|
Dressed in
a plastic yellow poncho, he waved and smiled to wildly cheering crowds,
stopping repeatedly so he could lean over barriers and kiss babies, before
reaching the sea of believers at Rizal Park.
The
Philippines is famed as the Catholic Church's bastion in Asia, with 80 percent
of the former Spanish colony following the faith.
But even
the pope was stunned at the size of the crowd which he looked out on from the
stage.
"I
cannot fathom the faith of the simple people," Francis said, according to
the Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who acted as the
pontiff's chaperone.
Six million
turned out to see the pope at the park and along motorcade routes, the head of
Manila's planning agency, Francis Tolentino, told AFP, adding this was based on
calculations done with the police.
This
surpassed the previous world record for a papal gathering of five million
during a mass by John Paul II at the same venue in 1995.
Vatican
spokesman Federico Lombardi said Sunday's crowd could even reach seven million.
However he did not have any firm assessments to base this on.
'Gift of
God'
 |
Police
stand along a highway in Manila
on January 14, 2015 during security
preparations ahead of a visit by Pope
Francis (AFP Photo/Jay Directo)
|
"You
can't describe the feeling. It's just like you have met Jesus Christ
himself," a rain-soaked but beaming Ponce told AFP.
Volunteer
rescue worker Kristine Bancure had been on duty as a medic through the day but
also got a glimpse of the pope.
"It's
an overwhelming feeling. I felt the hair on my skin standing up," she
said.
In his
homily, the pope praised Filipinos for their reverence.
"The
Philippines is the foremost Catholic country in Asia. This is itself a special
gift of God, a blessing," the pontiff told the vast crowd.
 |
This aerial
handout photo taken and released by the Philippine Air Force Public
Information
Office on January 18, 2015 shows millions of faithful attending a mass
at a
park by Pope Francis during his visit to Manila (AFP Photo/Philippine Air
Force)
|
"But
it is also a vocation. Filipinos are called to be outstanding missionaries of
the faith in Asia."
He also
spoke out against "poverty, ignorance and corruption", a theme he has
focused on repeatedly during his five-day visit to the Philippines.
In his
first speech of his tour, at the presidential palace, Francis lectured the
nation's politicians to show integrity and end "scandalous social
inequalities".
About 25
million Filipinos, or one quarter of the population, live on the equivalent of
60 cents a day or less, according to government data.
Emotional
meeting
 |
Pope
Francis (R) embraces two children,
including 12-year-old Glyzelle Palomar
(2nd
R), during his visit to the University
of Santo Tomas in Manila on January 18,
2015 (AFP Photo/Giuseppe Cacace)
|
Glyzelle
Palomar, a 12-year-old taken in by a church charity, wept as she asked how God
could allow children to descend into prostitution and drug addiction.
The pope
folded her in his arms, and discarded his prepared speech as he reverted to his
native Spanish to deliver an impromptu and heartfelt response.
"She is
the only one who has put a question for which there is no answer and she wasn't
even able to express it in words but in tears," he told those gathered at
a Catholic university in Manila.
The pope
called on people to show tangible, genuine concern for the poor and
marginalised.
"(There
are) certain realities in life we only see through eyes that are cleansed with
our tears," he said.
Typhoon
trip
The pope
said the main reason for visiting the Philippines was to meet survivors of
Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm ever recorded on land which claimed
more than 7,350 lives in November 2013.
 |
This
handout picture released by the
Vatican press office (Osservatore Romano)
shows
the faithful braving the rain as
Pope Francis leads mass during his
visit to
Tacloban on January 17, 2015
(AFP Photo/Osservatore Romano )
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"Long
live the pope!" the crowd chanted before the mass.
Francis had
planned to spend a full day in communities where homes were flattened by
monster winds and tsunami-like ocean surges, but was forced to return to Manila
to avoid another tropical storm.
Still, he
was deeply moved by his truncated time in the typhoon areas and felt privileged
to have made the trip, Cardinal Tagle told reporters.
The pope's
tour, which also took him to Sri Lanka, was his second trip to Asia in five
months, in a nod to the region's growing importance for the Church as it faces
declining support in Europe and the United States.
It was also
the fourth papal visit to the Philippines, and the rapturous reception given to
him throughout his stay cemented the nation's status as the Church's Asian role
model.
The pope
will fly back to Rome on Monday morning.
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Pope
Francis, wearing a plastic raincoat, waves to well-wishers after
a mass in
Tacloban, on January 17, 2015 (AFP Photo/Johannes Eisele)
|
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