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.

An estimated 600,000 people in East Timor, just under half its population, turned out in the baking heat on Tuesday for a Mass with Pope Francis at a coastal park synonymous with the country's long struggle for independence from Indonesia.