.... 'why does God allow children to become prostitutes?'

    

A record six million people poured into Manila's rain-soaked streets and its biggest park as Pope Francis ended his Asian pilgrimage with the biggest-ever papal mass.

The crowd estimate included people who attended the Pope's final Mass in Rizal Park and surrounding areas, and lined his motorcade route, said officials in the Philippine capital.

It came after the pope was earlier challenged by a 12-year-old orphan girl to explain how God could allow innocent children who have done nothing wrong to be dragged into lives of drug addiction and prostitution. 

    

Francis marked an important feast day honouring the infant Jesus by dedicating the final homily of his week-long Asian trip, which began in Sri Lanka, to children. It was a reflection of the importance the Vatican places on Asia as the future of the church since it is one of the few places where Catholic numbers are growing. The Philippines is the largest Catholic nation 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.'

He urged the crowd to protect their children from sin, alcohol and gambling, saying the devil 'distracts us with the promise of ephemeral pleasures, superficial pastimes'.

'Filipinos are called to be outstanding missionaries of the faith in Asia,' he said.

Francis had earlier made a triumphant entry into Rizal Park wearing the same cheap, plastic yellow rain poncho handed out to the masses during his visit to the typhoon-hit eastern city of Tacloban a day earlier. 

Steady rain fell on closely packed crowd, but it did not seem to dampen spirits of the devout Filipinos who streamed into the capital for Francis's final day. The 78-year-old was driven through them in a 'popemobile' modified from a jeepney, the most popular mode of transport in the Philippines...

[...]

dailymail.co.uk

  

*Truth speaker: Pope Francis puts a hand on the head of Glyzelle Iris Palomar, 
who asked him why bad things happen to children

*The girl, who was rescued and found shelter in a Church-run community, 
broke down in tears and could not finish her prepared welcome.

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