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More than 500,000 young people gathered on Rio de Janeiro’s famed Copacabana beach were urged to be “agents for a new world” in the opening ceremony of the 28th World Youth Day.
In his homily on the WYD theme, “Go and make disciples of all nations”, local Archbishop Orani Joao Tempesta invited the young people to be missionaries.
“This week Rio has become the centre of the Church, its heart both youthful and vibrant,” he said. “You have come from all over the world to share together in the faith and the joy of being disciples and missionaries in all nations.”
Though Copacabana is better known for hosting millions of revellers during the annual New Year’s Eve celebrations, the archbishop compared it to the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
“The sea, the sand, the beach and the crowd remind us of the call of the other disciples,” he said, and Christ “invites us for a swim in deep waters, the waters of our baptism”.
Archbishop Tempesta encouraged the pilgrims to participate in their communities “with enthusiasm”, making it an opportunity of “coexisting with our brothers and sisters, witnessing that another world is possible”.
At dusk, the large stage dominated by a blue cross was lit up with the colours of the Brazilian flag. Silence greeted the arrival of the WYD Cross and an image of the Virgin Mary, carried in procession by young people from the five continents.
The huge congregation assembled despite heavy winter rains that swept through Rio and a breakdown in the city’s subway system that led to serious traffic jams.
As is customary, Pope Francis did not participate in the opening ceremony, but a Vatican spokesman confirmed that he watched the event on television and was impressed by the size of the congregation braving the rain.
The WYD gathering will include catechetical presentations by 250 different bishops, drawn from all around the world, in a score of languages.
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Image: KQED
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