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Orthodox shun pope's Mass in Tbilisi, few Catholics turn out

By Philip Pullella and Margarita Antidze
Pope Francis waves as he arrives for a holy mass at Mikheil Meskhi stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia, October 1, 2016. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili

TBILISI (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Saturday said Mass for an unusually small crowd of just a few thousand Catholics in Georgia, a celebration that was further dampened when a delegation from the Orthodox Church stayed away.

Ex-Soviet Georgia is overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian and less than 1 percent of the population is Catholic, according to government figures.

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