Pope and pop rock Catholic youth party
KRAKOW: At least 2.5 million pilgrims from around the world attended mass with Pope Francis yesterday on the final day of a global Catholic youth festival in Poland, organisers said.
“We estimate between 2.5 and 3.0 million people,” 2016 World Youth Day spokesperson Anna Chmura said of the numbers attending the event near the southern city of Krakow. Police declined to give an estimate.
Francis was wrapping up a emotionally charged trip to Poland that took him to Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.
High-spirited teenagers, scouts, priests and families had camped under the stars in the vast “Campus Misericordiae” (Field of Mercy) ahead of the final mass of a weeklong Catholic festival.
Francis waved to the bleary-eyed crowds as he toured the site in his pope-mobile at the start of a ceremony attended by 1.6 million worshippers, according to Bishop Damian Muskus, the festival’s coordinator.
He had kicked off the day blessing new houses for the poor and elderly built by Catholic charity Caritas.
Hundreds of thousands of people had streamed to the grassy site on Saturday with folding chairs, sleeping bags, umbrellas and sun-hats, amid warnings hours in the baking July sun could be broken with a rainstorm.
At the evening vigil on Saturday, Francis chastised “drowsy and dull kids who confuse happiness with a sofa”, urging them to get out and live life rather than spend it glued to smartphones.
Latin America’s first pontiff had faced stiff competition at the start of his five-day trip with the memory of immensely popular Polish pope and saint John Paul II, but quickly made the festivities his own.
As he visited the death camp in Auschwitz, he warned that the cruelty seen there “did not end” with World War II.
The “world is at war”, Francis said, but the way to “overcome fear” was to welcome people fleeing conflicts and persecution — a message with particular resonance in Poland, which has taken a hard line against refugees.
On Saturday he prayed for God to rid the world of the “devastating wave of terrorism”.
“In these dangerous times, he is convincing people not to be afraid to open up,” Polish pilgrim Kasia Czajka, 40, said ahead of the mass.
“While John Paul II was especially focused on the young, Francis is for all people in need”.
The head of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics cracked joke after joke with youngsters gathered nightly beneath his window, cranking up the party spirit at an event dubbed “the Catholic Woodstock”.
The mediaeval centre of Krakow had been overrun all week by flag-waving groups from China to Samoa and Mexico, who were entertained between masses with concerts, break-dancing and football matches. But Friday was a day of mourning as Francis walked silently through the notorious wrought-iron “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Sets You Free) gate at the AuschwitzBirkenau camp, where 1.1 million people were murdered.
Freeing himself from the imposing security laid on for his visit, Francis sat on a bench among the trees and bowed his head in prayer before meeting Holocaust survivors and Catholics who had helped save Jews.
“Lord, have mercy on your people. Lord, forgive so much cruelty,” the pope wrote in a memorial book.
In a heartfelt appeal to the world’s young, he said it was up to them to fight xenophobia and “teach us how to live in diversity, in dialogue, to experience multiculturalism not as a threat, but an opportunity”.
“We came from the other side of the world to hear the pope’s message,” said Christina Criseina, 30, from Puerto Rico, who said she took four flights to get to the World Youth Day celebrations.
Security was heavy following a series of jihadist attacks in Europe and snipers could be seen near the altar while helicopters flew overhead.
From above, the grasslands resembled a multi-coloured mosaic, with thousands of flags fluttering in the breeze.
“Participating in World Youth Day is like an addiction. I went to the last ones in Rio and Madrid. It’s extraordinary,” said 23-year-old Colombian Alejandro Giron. He said he knew someone who had worked as a street vendor selling empanadas (stuffed pastries) at night in order to raise the money for the trip to Poland.
“We’re here to tell the world that Iraqi Christians aren’t all dead,” said pilgrim Mirna, 17, referring to the plight of Christians living in areas of Iraq threatened by the Islamic State group.