a raucous welcome to the World Youth Day festival in Portugal’s capital Thursday, in a sign of youthful support for the 86-year-old pontiff and his calls for inclusivity and economic justice.
Organizers estimated some 500,000 pilgrims attended the music-and-dance filled World Youth Day opening ceremony in Lisbon’s Eduardo VII park, a figure that was expected to more than double during the festival’s coming days. On Thursday, he emphasized his call for the Catholic Church to be welcoming to all, sinners included. “There is room for everyone in the church,” Francis told the crowd, leading the young people in a chant of “todos,” which is Spanish and Portuguese for “everyone.”
“Yeah, I know that our church is very broken; we have a lot of sinners and broken people,” Seybert said. “I desire to hear something that encourages us to recognize our poverty and woundedness, and then run with it.
Francis encouraged the students to use the privilege of their educations to protect the environment, care about poor and marginalized people, and to “redefine what we mean by progress and development.” Francis’ visit to Portugal is aimed primarily at young people, but his message about reversing economic inequalities has found resonance among people of all ages, who lined his route and watched from hotel balconies or the street as his motorcade passed.