Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he arrives at Quirino Grandstand to celebrate his final Papal Mas...

1. Record Turnout For Pope's Sunday Mass In Manila
Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he arrives at Quirino Grandstand to celebrate his final Papal
Mass in Manila, Philippines, on Sunday. In his homily, Francis warned about the Philippine
government's "insidious" family planning program. Ron Soliman/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Ron Soliman/AP
Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he arrives at Quirino Grandstand to celebrate his final Papal
Mass in Manila, Philippines, on Sunday. In his homily, Francis warned about the Philippine
government's "insidious" family planning program.
Ron Soliman/AP
At least 6 million people in the predominately Catholic Philippines thronged a rain-drenched Rizal
park in the capital, Manila, to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis as he presented Sunday Mass at the
end of a four-day visit to the islands nation.
Speaking to poncho-clad Filipinos standing in the pelting rain, Francis appealed to the world to
"learn how to cry" for the poor and abused and urged ordinary people to "shun structures which
perpetuate poverty, ignorance and corruption." The Philippines is among the poorest countries in
Asia with one of the fastest-growing populations 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."
But the pope hit out at the Philippine government's program requiring family planning services at
hospitals, warning against "insidious attacks and programs contrary to all that we hold true and

2. sacred."
(As we reported on Friday, surveys in the Philippines, with its 100 million people, have shown that
an overwhelming number of people, including Catholics, support the wide availability of birth
control.)
Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the estimates of the number of people
attending the mass ranged between 6 million and 7 million, easily surpassing the 5 million who
attended a final Mass in the same park given by Pope John Paul II two decades before.
On Saturday, an approaching tropical storm forced the pontiff to cut short a visit to Tacloban, the
central city that was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.
Before arriving in the Philippines, the pope visited Sri Lanka, an island-nation with a significant
Christian minority that was also visited by John Paul II.
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