- Pope was driven to mass in a 'popemobile' modified from a jeepney, the Philippines' most popular mode of transport
- Organisers expected 6million people, more than the 5million who came to see Pope John Paul 20 years ago
- The celebration came on the final day of the pope's five-day visit to the Philippines
A record six million people poured into Manila's rain-soaked streets and its biggest park as Pope Francis ended his Asian pilgrimage with the biggest-ever papal mass.
The crowd estimate included people who attended the Pope's final Mass in Rizal Park and surrounding areas, and lined his motorcade route, said officials in the Philippine capital.
Francis marked an important feast day honouring the infant Jesus by dedicating the final homily of his week-long Asian trip, which began in Sri Lanka, to children.
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Faithful: Filipino Catholics lift arms, rosaries and smartphones as Pope Francis trundles past in a special popemobile ahead of saying Mass
Biggest mass ever? Six million were expected to come to see Pope Francis saying Mass in Manila, the Philippine capital
It was a reflection of the importance the Vatican places on Asia as the future of the church since it is one of the few places where Catholic numbers are growing. The Philippines is the largest Catholic nation in the region.
'We need to see each child as a gift to be welcomed, cherished and protected,' Francis said in his homily. 'And we need to care for our young people, not allowing them to be robbed of hope and condemned to a life on the streets.'
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He urged the crowd to protect their children from sin, alcohol and gambling, saying the devil 'distracts us with the promise of ephemeral pleasures, superficial pastimes'.
'Filipinos are called to be outstanding missionaries of the faith in Asia,' he said.
Francis made a triumphant entry into Rizal Park wearing the same cheap, plastic yellow rain poncho handed out to the masses during his visit to the typhoon-hit eastern city of Tacloban a day earlier.
Steady rain fell on closely packed crowd, but it did not seem to dampen spirits of the devout Filipinos who streamed into the capital for Francis's final day. The 78-year-old was driven through them in a 'popemobile' modified from a jeepney, the most popular mode of transport in the Philippines.
Francis was driven through crowds in a popemobile modified from a jeepney, the Philippines' most popular mode of transport
'Sea of faith': Organisers expected as many as 6million people, more than the 5million who flocked to a Mass there by Pope John Paul in 1995
He stopped often along the route to kiss children and bless religious statues on the day the Philippines celebrates the feast of the infant Jesus. Worshippers held up rosaries in a forest of uplifted arms as he passed by.
The crowd, estimated by city officials to be more than 3million before the Mass had even started, filled Manila's Rizal Park and surrounding areas to attend the event that closes Francis's week-long trip to Asia.
Some people had waited through the night to get the best places. Gates opened nine hours before the start of the Mass, which was due to last nearly three hours.
Organisers had earlier said they had expected as many as 6million people, more than the 5million who flocked to a Mass there by Pope John Paul 20 years ago - a record for a papal gathering. The Philippines is the Catholic Church's bastion in Asia, with 80 percent of the former Spanish colony followers of the faith, and the pope is a revered figure.
'We are devotees of the pope,' Bernie Nacario, 53, told AFP as he stood amid a mass of people with his wife and two young children near Rizal Park ahead of the mass.
'The pope is an instrument of the Lord and if you are able to communicate with him, it is just like talking to God himself.'
As groups of friends sang nearby and others burst into spontaneous cheers, Mr Nacario said he was a long-time arthritis sufferer but today his pain had disappeared.
'It is as if the Lord has cured my ailment.'
Reason to be cheerful: Pope Francis was set to say Mass in front of the biggest crowd ever addressed by a pope
Devotees: Pilgrims gather in the rain at Rizal Park to hear Sunday Mass with Pope Francis, the final event of his trip to the Philippines
Wet: Thousands of worshippers stand wearing plastic ponchos and beneath makeshift shelters as they wait for the Mass to begin
Big event: Pilgrims gather in nearby streets for the chance to hear the pope speak in Manila's Rizal Park
The pope's five-day visit to the Philippines, which began on Thursday, followed two days in Sri Lanka. It is his second trip to Asia in five months, in a nod to the region's growing importance to the Catholic Church as it faces declining support in Europe and the United States.
It is also the fourth papal visit to the Philippines, where rapturous receptions have cemented the nation's status as the Church's Asian role model.
Ahead of the mass, May Dupaya, 41, stood on Sunday afternoon with a black plastic bag to shield her from the rain, after lending her raincoat to her mother.
'I am prepared to get wet for Pope Francis. I'm prepared to get sick for Francis,' Ms Dupaya told AFP as her 18-year-old daughter huddled next to her in a plastic poncho.
Philippine authorities have undertaken one of their biggest-ever security operations to protect the pope, with nearly 40,000 soldiers and police deployed for Sunday's event.
'This is a sea of faith we are dealing with,' acting national chief Leonardo Espina told reporters.
Lord is my refuge: Pilgrims take shelter beneath a tree in Rizal Park after waiting hours to get a good spot to hear the Mass
Popular: Pope Francis aboard his mobile drives past the statue of Filipino saint Lorenzon prior to his mass in Quirino grandstand
Devotion: Some people waited through the night to be first through the gates before the start of the Mass
The Pope's last full day in the Philippines began with a youth gathering at a Catholic university in Manila, where attendees were moved by a question posed by a 12-year-old orphan girl.
Glyzelle Iris Palomar asked him: 'Many children are abandoned by their parents. Many of them became victims and bad things have happened to them, like drug addiction and prostitution. Why does God allow this to happen, even if the children are not at fault? Why is it that only a few people help us?'
The girl, who was rescued and found shelter in a Church-run community, broke down in tears and could not finish her prepared welcome. The Pope hugged her and later put aside most of his own prepared speech to respond.
'She is the only one who has put forward a question for which there is no answer and she was not even able to express it in words but rather in tears,' he said, visibly moved.
'Why do children suffer?' the Argentine Pope said, speaking in his native Spanish. An aide translated his words into English for the crowd of about 30,000 young people on the grounds of the Church-run university.
'I invite each one of you to ask yourselves, "Have I learned how to weep, how to cry when I see a hungry child, a child on the street who uses drugs, a homeless child, an abandoned child, an abused child, a child that society uses as a slave?"'
Charisma: Pope Francis gestures as he delivers a message during his meeting with the youth at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila
Pious: A student holds a Bible during the visit by Pope Francis to the University of Santo Tomas
Devotion: A statue of the "Infant of Prague" is held up by a devotee as the crowd waits for Pope Francis to arrive at Santo Tomas University
Children can be seen living on the streets of the Philippine capital, as they often do in many poor Asian countries, surviving by begging and picking through garbage in vast dumps.
The United Nations says 1.2million children live on the streets in the Philippines. According to the Child Protection Network Foundation, 35.1 per cent of children were living in poverty in 2009, the last year such data was available. Nearly a third of Filipinos live in slums.
Francis noted there were more men than women in the crowd and that it was a little girl who was able to move everyone.
'Women have much to tell us in today's society. At times we are too "machista" and don't allow room for women,' he said, using the Spanish term for male chauvinist. The crowd laughed.
'But women are capable of seeing things with a different angle from us, with a different eye, and pose questions that we men are not able to understand ... so when the next pope comes to Manila, let's please have more women among you,' he said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2915281/Pope-Francis-addresses-record-breaking-crowd-SIX-MILLION-devotees-Manila-driven-rain-drenched-masses-Popemobile.html#ixzz3PBpetcLX
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