An enthusiastic and colorful tide of 1.5 million faithful met this Saturday in Lisbon for the vigil of the World Youth Day (WYD), chaired by Pope Francis.
The number of people present at nightfall on the immense esplanade next to the Tagus was reported by the Vatican, citing an estimate by the Portuguese authorities.
During the day, young Catholics from all over the world were arriving under the strong sun with their backpacks and sleeping bags, prepared to spend the night until the final mass on Sunday.
Jorge Bergoglio, 86, made his appearance in the “popemobile” shortly after 7:00 p.m. at this vigil with a macro-festival atmosphere, which began with performances of pop-rock music on the colossal stage that dominates this huge enclosure arranged in an old landfill.
In a spirited speech, in which he repeatedly interacted with the audience, Francisco made references to soccer, exams or moments of crisis.
“Do you think that a person who falls in life, who has a failure, who even makes heavy, strong mistakes, is already finished? No ”, he threw at the pilgrims, stressing that after any setback they must“ get up ”.
The organizers had projected that the vigil and mass on Sunday morning could gather a million people, as the high point of the week of cultural and spiritual encounters that make up this edition of the largest international catholic gathering.
In a large area filled with tents, flags of many countries and temporary installations, the young people waited in a festive atmosphere, surrounded by a extensive security device.
“We have come walking from Barcelona, we have left 40 days ago. It’s a pilgrimage to see the pope,” Santi Salvador, a 19-year-old Spanish student, told AFP who traveled 1,300 kilometers to get there.
“Participating in this vigil is important because of the grandeur of the event, for what it represents for Catholics,” said Tiago Carlos, a 30-year-old Portuguese.
impromptu speech
On Saturday morning, the Argentine pontiff was received by some 200,000 faithful at the Fátima sanctuary, some 130 km north of Lisbon, where he prayed the rosary with sick and disabled youth and six prisoners.
“The Church has no doors, so that everyone can enter”assured the Argentine pontiff during a brief speech delivered in Spanish, like almost everyone since he arrived in Portugal on Wednesday.
“This is the mother’s house and a mother always has an open heart for all her children. Everyone, everyone, everyone, without exclusion”, she repeated to applause, reiterating a message that she has already underlined on other occasions in this WYD.
Contrary to what was planned, the pope improvised almost all of his speech.
Francisco –who moves in a wheelchair or leaning on a cane for a increasingly fragile health— had already changed the script of one of his speeches on Friday, after spontaneously explaining that “the reflectors” were not working for him and he could not read well.
The Vatican spokesman told the AFP that the change on Friday had actually been due to “a reflection caused by the lighting”, while that of this Saturday had been “a choice” of the pontiff.
“In silence, the Pope prayed extensively with pain for peace before the Virgin of Fatima,” Matteo Bruni later told reporters, excluding any vision problems.
“Hope”
Upon his arrival in Fátima in a Portuguese air force helicopter, Francis was applauded by some 200,000 faithful who did not quite fill the venue, under a sky darkened by smoke and ash from an active forest fire a hundred kilometers away.
Then he toured in a “popemobile” the esplanade that surrounds the small chapel that marks the place where, according to Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to three children in 1917.
“It is an important visit that will help us in our faith,” said Juan Fiorani, a 17-year-old Argentine student from neighboring Spain, where he was spending his vacation.
Bergoglio already visited Fátima as pope in May 2017 for the massive canonization of two pastors, which was attended by some 500,000 pilgrims.
Francisco has been in Portugal since Wednesday, where he fulfills a busy schedule within WYD in Lisbon.
From the beginning of his visit, he addressed issues such as ecology, the war in Ukraine or the pain of victims of sexual abuse of minors by members of the Church.
(AFP)
(Photos: Reuters)
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Source-www.infobae.com