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."

Sources:

Vatican Radio

National Catholic Reporter

Catholic News Agency

Catholic Herald

Image: Yahoo! News

Marian College, a Catholic girls College with approximately 450 students, has been severely affected by the earthquake and will likely not be able to operate on it's present site for the best part of a year.

St Bede's Rector, Mr Justin Boyle said, "It took just one look at the damage to the grounds and buildings to realise their situation, so I made the offer".

The Minister of Education, Anne Tolley gave her consent to the Marian girls attending St Bede's College, provided both schools agreed.

The provincial, Brian Cummings consented to the proposal and this week the Boards of Proprietors and the Senior Administrations of both Colleges have been working through the practicalities.

The colleges are currently in discussion with the Ministry of Education and Catholic Education Board to erect a separate administration Hub for the Marian senior administration and staff.

It is likely that St Bede's will operate from something like 8.00am - 1.00pm and then Marian from 1.30pm - 6.00pm daily.

St Bede's students will lose one 50 minute class a day, however the college intends to make up for the time lost by using the boarders dining room to provide study facilities for all day students but particularly those whose homes have been damaged.

Mr Boyle is optimistic about the new arrangement. "It could be the academic standards improve".

Interim arrangements have also been made for several other quake-hit Christchurch Schools. Linwood College's 1100 students will share the 1700 pupil Cashmere High School campus, Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti and Catholic Cathedral College are scheduled to resume classes on Tuesday.

Of 163 schools in the city, 84 have reopened and by the end of the week another 59 are expected to reopen.

Sources
Society of Mary
The Press