(reuters) -- The pope will also visit Bangladesh, to where more than 620,000 Rohingya have fled from what Amnesty International has dubbed "crimes against humanity" by Myanmar security forces, including murder, rape, torture and forcible displacement.

The Myanmar army denies the accusations.

Only about 700,000 of Myanmar's 51 million people are Roman Catholic. Thousands of them have travelled by train and bus to Yangon, the country's main city, to catch a glimpse of the pope.

(Photo: A roadside billboard welcomes Pope Francis to Myanmar. Photograph: Lynn Bo Bo/EPA)