Flags lowered across Asia as different faiths mourn pope of peace

A lady lights a candle for the late Pope John Paul II at Quiapo church in Manila yesterday. The death of the pope has caused hundreds in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines flocking to places of worship, seeking to alleviate their grief through prayer. The pontiff died on April 2 at the Vatican at the age of 84. PHOTO: AFP

Special masses were held at churches across the region -- including communist countries China and Vietnam where religious freedom is repressed and whose leaders have long been at odds with the Vatican -- while tributes from leaders of all faiths continued to pour in.

In India the national flag flew at half mast and all official entertainment was cancelled as the country entered the second day of three days' official state mourning and special masses were held in churches across the country.

Christians make up about two percent of India's billion plus Hindu-majority population, but the pontiff is widely esteemed there for putting Mother Teresa -- the nun who devoted her life to helping Calcutta's dirt poor slum-dwellers -- on the path to sainthood in 2003, just six years after her death.

In predominantly Buddhist Thailand flags will remain lowered until Tuesday at government buildings, while in Australia flags on Sydney's iconic Harbour Bridge were also flying half-mast Monday.

New South Wales state Premier Bob Carr said his government wanted to honour the pontiff who died Saturday at the age of 84 after 26 years as head of the Catholic Church.

"As Head of State of the Vatican, His Holiness will be accorded the protocol of a Head of State," Carr said, adding that the flags would also be lowered on the day chosen for the pope's funeral.

Asia's biggest Catholic country, the Philippines, Monday began official mourning, while President Gloria Arroyo annonced she would be attending the pontiff's funeral in Rome this week.

The country, which has some 68 million catholics, would remain in a national period of mourning and flags will fly at half-mast until the Pope was buried, Arroyo's chief aide, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, said.

"In my visits to the pope even before I became president, what always impressed me was he knew what was happening in the Philippines," Arroyo told reporters.

"He was most especially concerned with having peace, progress, and brotherhood in Mindanao," she said, referring to the southern Philippine region that has been a hotbed of Muslim separatism for decades.