San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
PILGRIMS BRAVE HEAT FOR VIGIL
Pope Francis marks World Youth Day in Portugal’s capital
An estimated 1.5 million young people filled a field in the Portuguese capital on Saturday for Pope Francis' World Youth Day vigil, braving scorching heat to secure a spot for the evening prayer and to camp out overnight for his farewell Mass this morning.
Francis made only brief remarks before them, however, and ditched his prepared speech for the fourth time in two days. Instead, the 86-year-old pontiff delivered a lively, 10-minute offthe-cuff chat in his native Spanish about journeying together and helping one another. “No fear, thanks, ciao!” he said at the end before aides pushed him in his wheelchair to the side of the stage.
Temperatures had soared to 95 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday in Lisbon and were forecast to top 104 degrees today. The heat forced pilgrims to shelter under umbrellas and makeshift shades of plastic canvas sheets tied between trash bins in the otherwise exposed field on the edge of the River Tagus.
Crews blew misters at the pilgrims to try to cool them down as they made their way into the venue at the peak of the day's heat, many flying their national flags. They formed long lines to fill water bottles from what organizers said were more than 400 faucets around the field.
Smoke from a spate of wildfires that broke out around Portugal during a weekend spike in temperatures cast a haze over the sky as they arrived on foot from all around the city for one of the liturgical highlights of the Catholic youth festival. Citing local organizers, the Vatican said an estimated 1.5 million people were on hand.
Lan Young Modesta Cheong, a pilgrim from South Korea, said the heat was bad but her group made use of the trash bins to create shade.
“At first we were not so comfortable with it because it is dirty and it may be smelly, but at a certain point it became our tent, it's kind of a miracle and for me it is a bit the spirit of World Youth Day,” she said. “We started using a useless dirty thing to support us and use it to avoid the heat and all these difficulties.”
Francis presided over the evening vigil after spending the morning at the Catholic shrine in Fatima.
There, he ditched his prepared speech and a prayer for peace. The prayer had been expected to be a highlight of Francis' visit to Fatima, given the shrine's century-old affiliation with exhortations of peace and conversion in Russia and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Francis instead “prayed silently for peace, with pain,” while meditating for a long period before a statue of the Virgin Mary, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said.
An estimated 200,000 turned out for Francis' visit to Fatima, packing the central esplanade long before the red-tinted moon set and the sun rose. Nearby wildfires turned the sky smoky black and sent ash snowing down on the crowd.
“We are here with great joy,” said Maria Florido, a 24year-old Spaniard who also saw Francis in Lisbon. “We woke up very early to come here and see the pope ... and we're here with great enthusiasm.”