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Pope Francis leads a huge open-air Mass for a rain-drenched crowd of millions in the Philippine capital. Rough cut (no reporter narration).
Video provided by Reuters Newslook
Pope Francis aboard his popemobile greets Filipinos and devotees prior to his mass in Quirino grandstand, Manila, Philippines, 18 January 2015.(Photo: ZALRIAN Z. SAYAT, EPA)
Millions of people braved rain to attend Pope Francis' final mass on his six-day tour of Asia in Manila, the capital of the Philippines on Sunday.
A record 6 million people poured into the city's streets and Rizal Park, officials said. The crowd estimate included people who attended the pope's final Mass in the park and surrounding areas, and lined his motorcade route, said the chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Francis Tolentino.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the Vatican had received the figure officially from local authorities and that it was a record, surpassing the 5 million who turned out for St. John Paul II's final Mass in the same park in 1995.
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The pontiff arrived on a popemobile based on the design of a jeepney, the modified U.S. Army World War II jeep that is a common means of public transport in the country, wearing the same plastic yellow rain poncho handed out to the masses during his visit to the central Philippine city of Tacloban a day earlier.
He dedicated the final homily of his tour to the young, and urged protection for children so they aren't tempted by sin or the devil or distracted by "promises of ephemeral pleasures, superficial pastimes."
"We need to care for our young people, not allowing them to be robbed of hope and condemned to a life on the streets," he said.
Pope Francis drew an estimated 200,000 people earlier Sunday when he addressed young people at Manila's Catholic university, coming close to tears when he heard two rescued street children speak of their lives growing up poor and abandoned.
The modern world suffers from a great lack of the capacity to cry, Pope Francis told a crowd of thousands at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila on Sunday. (Jan. 18) AP
He ditched his prepared remarks to respond to four young people who spoke of their lives. The most poignant testimony came from Glyzelle Palomar, 12, who wept as she asked Francis why children suffer so much. She spoke of children who are abandoned by their parents and end up using drugs or in prostitution.
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"Why is God allowing something like this to happen, even to innocent children? And why are there so few who are helping us?" she said, breaking down in tears, unable to finish reading what she had prepared to say to the pope.
A visibly moved Francis said he had no answer. "Only when we are able to cry are we able to come close to responding to your question," Francis said.
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"Those on the margins cry. Those who have fallen by the wayside cry. Those who are discarded cry," he said. "But those who are living a life that is more or less without need, we don't know how to cry."
On Sunday the pope met with the father of Kristel Padasas, a 27-year-old volunteer with Catholic Relief Services who died after she was hit by scaffolding after the Mass in Tacloban on Saturday. Her father was overwhelmed by the loss but was "consoled thinking that she had helped prepare the meeting of the people with the pope," said Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman.
The pontiff was forced to cut short his trip to Tacloban on Saturday, which was hit hard by Typhoon Haiyan, ahead of the approaching Tropical Storm Mekkhala. About 150,000 people, including survivors of the typhoon, braved the approaching storm to attend Mass with the pope.
John Tumama, 18, who waited for almost 18 hours, told the Catholic News Service between fits of chattering: "It was touching ... because ... he came all the way here just to show, he c-, just, just to show that he cared for us."
Nilda Jamora told the CNS: "It was very touching, and I've been crying even without the words yet. Just (Pope Francis) getting out of the plane and when he passed through with the motorcade in this area ... I've been crying because of his presence in spite of this bad weather."
The pope is scheduled to return to the Vatican on Monday.
Contributing: Associated Press
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