TBILISI, Georgia, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Leaders from the Georgian Orthodox Church did not attend Pope Francis' mass at a stadium in Tbilisi on Saturday and ordered its followers not to take part.
With just 2.5 percent of Georgia identifying as Catholic, the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in the nation's capital filled less than 3,000 of its 27,000 seats for the pope's mass. Leaders from the Georgian Orthodox Church were expected to send delegates to the ceremony, but none of the Orthodox Church bishops attended.