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Tens of thousands attend Pope's mass in Madagascar

Pope Francis, condemned what he said was its clan culture of privilege and corruption that allows a very few to live in wealth while the vast majority languish in grinding poverty.

He spoke on Sunday (September 8) in a homily of a Mass on a sprawling field on the outskirts of the capital Antananarivo for hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom had spent the night outdoors in unseasonably cool weather.

The Vatican said local organisers had estimated the crowd at about a million people.

Francis decried a clan culture that provided a boost only to those connected to it while leaving many others permanently excluded, or at best marginalised without opportunities to improve their lives.