Hundreds of thousands of young people filled a vast field on the outskirts of Rome yesterday to see Pope Leo, in the largest event yet of the new Catholic pontiff’s tenure, as part of a special weekend aimed at energising Catholic youth.
Young people from more than 146 countries, some wearing colourful bandanas to ward off the hot summer sun, were pressed against fences in the Tor Vergata field as Leo toured the crowd in his white popemobile in late afternoon.
The Pope, smiling broadly, waved, offered blessings and occasionally caught small stuffed animals and national flags thrown by the youth as he passed by.
“Dear young people ... my prayer for you is that you may persevere in faith, with joy and courage,” Leo said in remarks later to the crowd.
“Seek justice in order to build a more humane world,” he said. “Serve the poor, and so bear witness to the good that we would always like to receive from our neighbours.”
Many of the youth attending the event with Leo spent all day waiting in the field in heat approaching 30C. Organisers were using water cannons to help cool down people in the crowd.
“For me, it is an incredible emotion because I had never been to an event like this before,” said Maya Remorini, from Italy’s Tuscany region.
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