Hundreds of thousands of young pilgrims filled a vast meadow near Krakow for Mass with Pope Francis, as his five-day visit to southern Poland drew toward its end Sunday.
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Pope Francis urged “drowsy and tiresome kids” to swap their sofas and video games for walking boots on Saturday at an global Catholic youth festival in Poland.
Francis is particularly struck by how Mary Magdalene stood by Jesus when other disciples were deserting him, and was the first, on Easter morning according to Scripture, to whom Jesus appeared.
Francis began his public day with a visit to the Divine Mercy Sanctuary, a kilometer (half-mile) stroll away from the St. John Paul II shrine.
In his homily, Francis called on young people to “believe in a new humanity” that rejects hatred between different peoples and does not misuse national borders as barriers.
Pope Francis, left, enters the Divine Mercy Sanctuary through the Holy Door of Mercy, in Lagiewniki, near Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016.
In a heartfelt appeal to the world’s young, he said it was up to them to fight xenophobia and “teach us how to live in diversity, in dialogue, to experience multiculturalism not as a threat, but an opportunity”.
Francis challenged hundreds of thou.
On Saturday, he condemned what he describes as a “devastating wave of terrorism” and war that’s hit the world.
Francis said modern escapism into consumerism and computers isolates people.
Rev Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, referred to an estimate by Polish authorities of 1.5 million at yesterday’s closing mass. “Who Is Your Pope?” is both the title of their performance, but also a question they are trying to ask, surprised that the current head of the Catholic Church was not included in the official World Youth Day banners.
He also returned to a central tenet of the Christian faith, exhorting his listeners to show “real courage, the courage to be more powerful than evil, by loving everyone, even our enemies”.
Pope Francis says he won’t address child molestation allegations against a top Vatican Cardinal who is one of his most-trusted aides until justice officials in Australia have made a determination. That visit inspired the birth of Solidarity, a labor movement that eventually became a key factor in the collapse of communism in 1989 in Poland and throughout Eastern Europe.
The World Youth Day events took place amid very high security following a string of extremist attacks in Western Europe, with an elderly French priest being slain in his Normandy church Tuesday, the day before Francis arrived in Poland.
At Sunday’s Mass, several Polish police vans followed the pope’s open-sided popemobile as he rode through the wide flat meadow in the middle of the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.
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Directly addressing those who commit terrorist acts, the pope added to his prayer, “Touch the hearts of terrorists so that they may recognize the evil of their actions and may turn to the way of peace and goodness, of respect for the life and for the dignity of every human being, regardless of religion, origin, wealth or poverty”.
