Pope Francis meets typhoon Haiyan survivors

Pope Francis arrived in the Philippine city of Tacloban on Saturday, where he celebrated Mass and was scheduled to have lunch with survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, the November 2013 storm that leveled whole villages and left more than 7,300 people dead or missing.

Unfortunately, bad weather meant the Pope had to leave early, for which he apologized, saying he was "truly saddened."

Before the storm cut short the day's festitives, the pontiff told the survivors of the worst disaster to hit the Philippines that Jesus did not abandon them in their time of tragedy: "I come to tell you that Jesus is Lord and never lets us down," Francis said to the more than 150,000 people that came to hear him give Mass.

Wearing plastic raincoats, the faithful waited in the inclement weather for hours to hear the Pope speak. Despite Tropical Storm Mikkhala hovering off the coast, keeping many who wanted to see Francis from traveling to Tacloban, the atmosphere was festive, with raucous applause, music blaring and a banner of welcome hanging from a large cargo ship that was swept inland by Haiyan and never removed.

The Pope has received a rockstar's welcome at every turn since arriving in the mostly-Catholic South Asian nation. 86,000 people gathered outside an arena in Manila where Francis met with families on Thursday.

Francis denounced the corruption that has plagued the Philippines for decades and urged the government to fight the "scandalous" poverty affecting the country.

The government has declared national holidays during the Pope's visit, which culminates on Sunday with a Mass in Manila's enormous Rizal Park, where it is expected huge crowds will turn out to see him. When he arrived in Manila, authorities estimated that between 700,000 and 1 million people lined his motorcade route in from the airport.

However, whether or not this Mass will take place is also in question, because of Mikkhala.

es/bw (AP, dpa)