I'm not sure if it's a typo in your question, but it doesn't look like you're closing the string tag and you're variable isn't correct. The carriage return may also be problem, so get rid of that too.
Change:
<string name="application_start_message" formatted="false">
<![CDATA[ bla bla bla %1$ bla bla bla %1$.... ]]>
To
<string name="application_start_message" formatted="false"><![CDATA[ bla bla bla %1$s bla bla bla %1$s .... ]]></string>