Returning to the Marian shrine where he oversaw the drafting of a crucial document on re-evangelising Latin America, Pope Francis said he wanted to “knock on the door of the house of Mary” before beginning his heavy World Youth Day schedule.
Recalling the call for evangelisation issued by the Latin American bishops when they met at the Brazilian shrine of Aparecida in 2007, the Pope said: “Something beautiful took place here, which I witnessed at first hand.”
Pope Francis — then Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio — headed the committee that drafted the document. Foreshadowing his own pontifical style, it said the Church needs to “rid itself from all expired structures that do not favour the transmission of the faith”.
When the Pope inherited the WYD schedule from Benedict XVI, he chose to add a visit to Aparecida, 200 kilometres from Rio de Janeiro, where seven million pilgrims come each year.
In spite of intermittent rain and record cold weather, officials estimated that around 200,000 people turned out for his visit.
Pope Francis told them he wanted to encourage them in three respects — “hopefulness, openness to being surprised by God, and living in joy”.
He stressed that God is always close to the faithful and always ready to help. “Christians are joyful; they are never gloomy,” he said, because they believe “God is at our side”.
Refusing to travel with a big security detail, the Pope made his way toward the basilica in a jeep mounted with a plexiglass covering but no windows. He paused several times to kiss babies and to chat briefly with people in the crowd.
Later he addressed a group of recovering drug addicts in a working-class neighbourhood of Rio, telling them that those struggling with drug dependency deserve the “closeness, affection and love” of all society.
He also referred to efforts in some parts of Latin America to de-criminalise and “liberalise” drug use, saying this “will not” reduce drug addiction.
The Pope lamented that selfishness often prevails, rather than the “attention, care and love” needed to fight chemical dependency. Societies need to be courageous, he insisted, in acting against drug-trafficking and its attendant violence.”
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Image: Yahoo! News
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