Pope Francis wraps up Portugal visit with huge open-air Mass

Pope Francis on Sunday told an estimated 1.5 million mostly-young crowd at an open-air Mass near Lisbon, Portugal, to follow their dreams and not be afraid of failure.

"As young people, you want to change the world and it is good that you want to change the world and work for justice and peace," Francis said, wrapping up his five-day visit to Portugal to mark World Youth Day.

World Youth Day is an international Catholic jamboree featuring festive, cultural and religious events lasting nearly a week.

"The Church and the world need you, the young, as much as the earth needs rain," the pontiff said. 

Sunday's service at the Parque Tejo park on the outskirts of the Portuguese capital marked the end of Francis' first foreign trip since undergoing hernia surgery in June, 

Call for peace — especially in Ukraine

The 86-year-old arrived at the venue to cheers and national flag-waving as temperatures reached close to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Francis also asked the crowd to let him share "a dream that I carry within me: it is the dream of peace."

"As you return home, please continue to pray for peace. What is more, you are a sign of peace for the world, showing how different nationalities, languages and histories can unite instead of divide. You are the hope of a different world," he said.

He asked them to think of the young people who could not come to the event because of the world's many armed conflicts, adding: "I feel great sorrow for beloved Ukraine, which continues to suffer greatly."

Francis' less formal approach

The pope set out earlier than planned Sunday morning to loop the field in his popemobile, continuing the improvisation that has characterized this trip, ditching speeches in favor of off-the-cuff conversations with young people.

Francis has received an enthusiastic welcome in the Catholic-majority country, with well-wishers lining the streets to see him go by.

The pope is keen to galvanize young Catholics at a time when secularism and priest pedophilia scandals cause some to abandon pews in Europe.

During the visit, the pope met 13 victims of clerical abuse at the Holy See's diplomatic mission in Lisbon and was introduced to 15 youths from war-torn Ukraine's delegation.

He also traveled to a low-income neighborhood of Lisbon and prayed at the shrine of Fatima north of the Portuguese capital.

World Youth Day moves to Asia

Francis also announced the host city for the next World Youth Day in 2027, saying: "The next World Youth Day will be in Asia, it will be in South Korea in Seoul."

South Korea in 2014 one of Roman Catholicism's few strongholds in Asia. About 11 percent of the population of around 52 million people are Catholic, a figure that has grown in recent decades.

World Youth Day, created by John Paul II in 1986, features a wide range of events, including concerts and prayer sessions.

This year's edition, initially scheduled for August 2022 but postponed because of the pandemic, was the fourth for Francis after Rio de Janeiro in 2013, Krakow in 2016 and Panama in 2019.

mm/sms (AFP, AP, dpa)