Mass with Pope Francis Draws Half of East Timor’s Population 🌍

An estimated 600,000 people — nearly 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 35 years ago during the nation’s fight for independence from Indonesia.<br /><br />Other papal Masses have drawn millions of people from more populous countries, such as the Philippines, and other nationalities were represented at Tuesday's Mass.<br /><br />But the crowd in East Timor, population 1.3 million, was believed to represent the biggest turnout for a papal event ever, in terms of the proportion of the national population.