Largest Papal crowd

On January 15 1995, Pope John Paul II offered Mass to an estimated crowd of 4 - 5 million people at Luneta Park, Manila, during his visit to the Philippines.   The crowd stretched for more than a kilometer, and made travelling by Popemobile an impossibility. The Pope was airlifted by helicopter and arrived one hour an twenty minutes late. The Manila crowd was indicative of the affection with which the Pope is held in the Philippines, where 85% of the population of 67 million is Catholic. Pope John Paul's previous biggest crowd was the two million who turned out in 1979 at his native Krakow, Poland, for the first visit to his homeland after his elevation to the papacy.