In a display of enthusiasm not seen since the early years of Francis' decade-old papacy, teenagers and young adults thronged a downtown Lisbon park for the opening ceremony of the Catholic jamboree. Pilgrims ran alongside as his popemobile made languid loops through the crowd and a smiling Francis basked in their cheers.
Francis is in Portugal through the weekend to preside over the jamboree that St. John Paul II launched in the 1980s to encourage young Catholics in their faith. The Argentine Jesuit has picked up John Paul's mantle with gusto as he seeks to inspire the next generation to rally behind his key social justice and environmental priorities.
Maria Seybert, 19, of Littletown, Colorado, was attending her first World Youth Day and seemed inspired by Francis' exhortations to spread the faith. Francis pressed those causes again Thursday, first at Catholic University, one of Portugal's top institutions of higher learning, where he urged students to take risks and reject the temptation to merely perpetuate the status quo, or what the pope called the "present global system of elitism and inequality."
Francis next met with another group of students in Cascais, a beachside resort town, at the local branch of Scolas Occurrentes, a foundation he started years ago to bring young people from different backgrounds and nationalities together. Sitting in a brilliantly painted common room, Francis told them that a life without chaos or crises was like drinking distilled water: tasteless and "gross.
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