One million flock to Pope’s Congo Mass on day of peace and forgiveness

Pope Francis arrives at Ndolo airport (AP)

An estimated one million Congolese people have poured into the capital’s main airport for Pope Francis’ first big Mass in Africa, on a day dedicated to his call for peace and forgiveness in a country wracked by decades of violence.

Many of the faithful spent the night on the vast airfields of Kinshasa’s Ndolo airport ahead of the first papal visit to the overwhelmingly Christian country since St John Paul II’s last trip in 1985.