Half a million young people chanted, cheered and shouted on Thursday as they packed a Lisbon park to give Pope Francis a rock star welcome at the official opening ceremony of a global Catholic youth festival. READ:
"I am pleased to see all of you, and also to hear the delightful noise you are making! This makes me share your infectious joy," the Argentine pope told the crowd in his native Spanish.
The ceremony featured dance and song performances, including one by Portuguese fado star Mariza, a willowy singer with bleached blonde hair, who got a smile and a thumbs-up from the pontiff at the end of her set. It marked the pope's first mass event with participants at this year's World Youth Day, which is actually a six-day international Catholic jamboree.
"We cannot be satisfied with mere palliative measures or timid and ambiguous compromises," added the pope, who has made the protection of the environment a cornerstone of his pontificate. Organisers expect a million people from all over the world for the week of festive, cultural, and spiritual events.
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