People arrive as early as 10am for event

They came as early as 10am, hundreds of Catholic faithful streaming into Kallang.

- Andrew Wong

Dressed in the yellow and white of the Vatican flag, their school uniforms and bright pink ao dais, for 500 pilgrims from Vietnam they waited patiently in line for the ticketed event, hoping to get a jump on the enhanced security screening to enter the National Stadium for Pope Francis' mass.

Besides metal detectors and bag checks, the police had put in place other measures to tighten security ahead of the evening's pro- | ceedings, which saw more than 50,000 people pack the stadium for Singapore's first papal mass in almost 40 years.

Those who came via the Circle Line were greeted at Stadium MRT station by Public Transport Security Command (TransCom) and police K-9 unit officers who were on patrols. Hundreds of other security personnel and volunteers were deployed at checkpoints around the stadium.

Attendees started to be let in at about 12.45pm for the mass, which would start at 5.30pm.

Queues peaked at around 2pm, when it snaked from Stadium MRT to Stadium Roar, the arena's entrance, and many broke out their brollies to beat the mid-day blaze.