{"id":41292,"date":"2023-08-05T15:18:09","date_gmt":"2023-08-05T15:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/half-million-youths-give-pope-rock-star-welcome-in-lisbon"},"modified":"2023-08-05T15:43:48","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T15:43:48","slug":"half-million-youths-give-pope-rock-star-welcome-in-lisbon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/half-million-youths-give-pope-rock-star-welcome-in-lisbon","title":{"rendered":"Half million youths give pope rock star welcome in Lisbon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Sudan. <\/strong><\/span>Half a million young people chanted, cheered and shouted on Thursday as they packed a Lisbon park to give Pope Francis a rock star welcome at the official opening ceremony of a global Catholic youth festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pleased to see all of you, and also to hear the delightful noise you are making! This makes me share your infectious joy,\u201d the Argentine pope told the crowd in his native Spanish.<\/p>\n

Pilgrims shrieked and waved as the 86-year-old pontiff, surrounded by bodyguards, slowly drove by on his popemobile through the 26-hectare (64-acres) hillside Eduardo VII park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the pope\u2019s youths!\u201d they chanted as flags of national groups from Canada, Brazil, Latvia, Mexico, Spain, and other countries fluttered around them.<\/p>\n

Local authorities put the crowd size at 500,000.<\/p>\n

The ceremony featured dance and song performances, including one by Portuguese fado star Mariza, a willowy singer with bleached blonde hair, who got a smile and a thumbs-up from the pontiff at the end of her set.<\/p>\n

Many pilgrims had waited for hours under a blazing sun to get a view of the pope, singing and dancing to pass the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very impressive. It\u2019s intense! The atmosphere is great!\u201d said Geoffroy Garcia-Benito, a 17-year-old student from Angers in western France as he held a French flag.<\/p>\n

It marked the pope\u2019s first mass event with participants at this year\u2019s World Youth Day, which is actually a six-day international Catholic jamboree.<\/p>\n

The pope arrived in the Portuguese capital on Wednesday, when he met with the clergy and victims of clerical sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Environmental plea \u2013<\/p>\n

Earlier on Thursday the pope urged young people to combine fighting to save the planet with tackling poverty during an address to students at Lisbon\u2019s Catholic University.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must recognise the dramatic and urgent need to care for our common home,\u201d he said, speaking in his native Spanish. \u201cYet this cannot be done without a real change of heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot be satisfied with mere palliative measures or timid and ambiguous compromises,\u201d added the pope, who has made the protection of the environment a cornerstone of his pontificate.<\/p>\n

After his speech, the pope headed to Cascais, a seaside town some 30 kilometres (20 miles) west of Lisbon, to visit the local branch of his Scholas Occurrentes foundation, a movement he founded in 2013 to bring young people from different backgrounds and nationalities together.<\/p>\n

There he answered questions from youths before putting the final brushstroke on a mural that the community has been working on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is your Sistine Chapel,\u201d the pope said, sparking laughter from the assembled youths.<\/p>\n

Before leaving, the pope watered an olive tree, the symbol of peace, in the patio of the foundation.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2018Warm atmosphere\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n

Francis began his day meeting 15 young people from Ukraine at the Holy See\u2019s diplomatic mission in Lisbon where he is staying, the Vatican said in a brief statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter listening to their moving stories, he addressed a few words to the young people,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The meeting had not been listed on the official programme of the pope\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n

Organisers expect a million people from all over the world for the week of festive, cultural, and spiritual events.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat strikes me the most is the warm atmosphere between people, everyone is ready to share, to party even with strangers,\u201d said Paolo Lotini, a 17-year-old from Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy transmitted between different nationalities is incredible,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Francis will deliver a Mass on Sunday in Lisbon on the last day of his five-day visit to Portugal when temperatures are forecast to soar to 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit).<\/p>\n

World Youth Day, created in 1986 by John Paul II, is the largest Catholic gathering in the world and will feature a wide range of events, including concerts and prayer sessions.<\/p>\n

This edition, initially scheduled for August 2022 but postponed because of the pandemic, will be the fourth for Francis after Rio de Janeiro in 2013, Krakow in 2016 and Panama in 2019.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Sudan<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Half a million young people chanted, cheered and shouted on Thursday as they packed a Lisbon park to give Pope Francis a rock star welcome at the official opening ceremony of a global Catholic youth festival. \u201cI am pleased to see all of you, and also to hear the delightful noise you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":41291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[234,265,233],"class_list":["post-41292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-sudan","tag-south-sudan"],"yoast_head":"\nHalf million youths give pope rock star welcome in Lisbon - South Sudan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Half a million young people chanted, cheered and shouted on Thursday as they packed a Lisbon park to give Pope Francis a ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/half-million-youths-give-pope-rock-star-welcome-in-lisbon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Half million youths give pope rock star welcome in Lisbon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Half a million young people chanted, cheered and shouted on Thursday as they packed a Lisbon park to give Pope Francis a ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/half-million-youths-give-pope-rock-star-welcome-in-lisbon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Sudan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-05T15:18:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-05T15:43:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/sites\/32\/2023\/08\/sm_1691237558.48781.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"422\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/half-million-youths-give-pope-rock-star-welcome-in-lisbon#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/half-million-youths-give-pope-rock-star-welcome-in-lisbon\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Half million youths give pope rock star welcome in Lisbon\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-05T15:18:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-05T15:43:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/half-million-youths-give-pope-rock-star-welcome-in-lisbon\"},\"wordCount\":678,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/half-million-youths-give-pope-rock-star-welcome-in-lisbon#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/sites\/32\/2023\/08\/sm_1691237558.48781.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Sudan\",\"South-Sudan\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/half-million-youths-give-pope-rock-star-welcome-in-lisbon#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/half-million-youths-give-pope-rock-star-welcome-in-lisbon\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/half-million-youths-give-pope-rock-star-welcome-in-lisbon\",\"name\":\"Half million youths give pope rock star welcome in Lisbon - 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