Pope Francis has drawn a record six million people as he celebrated mass in the rain-swept Philippines capital, delivering a powerful message for the poor to a rapturous audience in a triumphant finale to an Asian tour.
Filipinos are famous for practising a passionate brand of Catholicism and they turned out in force on Sunday despite the wet weather, determined to see the charismatic 78-year-old pontiff, and in a celebratory mood that defied the gloomy skies.
Francis made an exhilarating entrance to a Manila bayside park for the mass aboard a "popemobile" that was styled after the nation's iconic, flamboyant and much-loved "jeepney" minibus.
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 the Catholic Church's bastion in Asia, with 80 per cent of the former Spanish colony followers of the faith, and the pope praised them 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.
"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 drawn on during the five-day visit to the Philippines which opened with a speech in which he lectured the nation's politicians to 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.
The head of Manila's planning agency said six million turned out to see the pope, surpassing the previous world record for a papal gathering of five million during a mass by John Paul II at the same venue in 1995.
Francis was stunned by the enormous crowd, Archbishop of Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who has acted as the pontiff's chaperone throughout the trip, told reporters.
"I can not fathom the faith of the simple people," Tagle quoted the pope as saying after the mass was over.
People who attended the event exuded excitement, love and respect.
Before the mass, the pope had an emotional encounter with former street children.
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 enfolded 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.
Philippine authorities undertook one of their biggest-ever security operations to protect the pope, with nearly 40,000 soldiers and police deployed for Sunday's event.
The pope's tour, which also took him to Sri Lanka, 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.
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