Pope draws huge crowds in Ecuador

A woman holds up a poster of Pope Francis in a crowd of thousands at Samanes Park in Guayaquil, Ecuador (AP)

Hundreds of thousands of people have filled a park in Ecuador's main port city for Pope Francis's first big event of his three-nation South American tour, hoping for a glimpse of Latin America's first pope returning to his home soil for a Mass dedicated to the family.

Many pilgrims spent the night outdoors, and some walked for miles to reach the park on Guayaquil's northern outskirts where the crowd sang hymns and sought pockets of shade to keep cool amid the scorching sun and high humidity.