TASITOLU, East Timor (AP) — Pope Francis' final Mass in East Timor drew an estimated crowd of 600,000 people, representing nearly half of the country's population. This turnout is believed to be the largest in terms of the proportion of the population for a papal event. East Timor, with a population that is 97% Catholic, has a deep-rooted Catholic tradition dating back to the early 1500s when Portuguese explorers first arrived.
The historic gathering took place at a seaside park where St. John Paul II had prayed in 1989 during the nation's struggle for independence from Indonesia. While crowd counts from such events are often provided by local organizers and may be subject to overestimation, the enthusiasm of the East Timorese people for the visit of the pontiff was evident.
Other notable papal Masses include the record-breaking 6 million attendees at Pope Francis' Mass in Manila in 2015, which remains unmatched to this day. In Brazil, conflicting reports emerged regarding the turnout for World Youth Day on Copacabana beach in 2013, with estimates ranging from 1.2 million to 3.7 million people.
In Poland, St. John Paul II's visit in 1979 drew nearly 2 million people to Krakow, his hometown, despite opposition from the Soviet-backed regime. The pontiff's subsequent visits to Poland continued to attract massive crowds, with an estimated 2.5 million attendees at an open-air Mass in 2002.
Most recently, Pope Francis celebrated a Mass for 1 million people in Kinshasa, Congo, in 2023, where he called for forgiveness and reconciliation in the face of past violence. The significant turnout in Congo, where approximately half of the population is Catholic, underscored the enduring appeal and influence of the papacy on a global scale.
