Pope Francis’ East Timor mass draws 6 lakh people

Pope Francis gestures to Catholic faithful after leading holy mass at the Esplanade of Tasitolu in Dili, East Timor. Pic/AFP

An estimated 600,000 people - a figure nearing half of East Timor's population - packed a seaside park Tuesday for Pope Francis' final Mass, held on the same field where St John Paul II prayed during the nation's fight for independence from Indonesia.

While other papal Masses have drawn millions of people in more populous countries and there were certainly other nationalities attending Tuesday's Mass, the crowd in small East Timor was believed to represent the biggest turnout for a papal event ever, in terms of the proportion of the population.

The Tasitolu park was a sea of yellow and white umbrellas - the colors of the Holy See flag - as Timorese shielded themselves from the afternoon sun awaiting Francis' arrival for the afternoon service. They got occasional spritzes of relief from water trucks that plied the field with hoses.

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