LOURDES, France, Aug 15 (AFP) - More than 300,000 people joined Pope John Paul II at an open-air mass Sunday marking the high point of his pilgrimage to the French Pyrenees town of Lourdes, officials said.
The estimate, from the police and the Roman Catholic Bishops` Conference, included those on the huge field where the mass took place as well as tens of thousands of others who gathered outside a basilica on the other side of the Gave river to watch.
During the service the pontiff delivered a strong appeal to protect life, but appeared again affected by his failing health in temperatures that hit 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).
"Help me," he whispered in Polish during his sermon, gesturing to an aide, Monsignor Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, for a glass of water. "I must continue!"
He dropped some paragraphs from the prepared homily and struggled through the main part.
The 84-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church suffers from Parkinson`s disease and the itinerary of the two-day visit, the 104th trip of his pontificate, is demanding.
The pilgrimage to Lourdes, southern France, is to celebrate the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus -- the moment that Catholics believe she ascended into heaven.
He delivered a strong message against abortion and euthanasia, and made a special appeal to women.
"To you women falls the task of being sentinels of the invisible," he told the congregation.
The multi-national crowd several times broke into applause, cries of "Viva Il Papa" ringing out. Some were moved to tears.
On Saturday evening an estimated 100,000 attended a candle-lit procession through the streets of the town nestling in the Pyrenees foothills.