Pope Francis touched down in Rio de Janeiro late yesterday, starting his first foreign trip as Pontiff and a week-long series of events expected to attract more than a million people to a gathering of young faithful in Brazil, home to the world's largest Roman Catholic population.
Welcomed by a committee of local dignitaries, including President Dilma Rousseff, Pope Francis waved to onlookers before proceeding to a motorcade through Rio's city centre, where local Catholics, visiting pilgrims and the curious were gathered to receive him.
The Pope was then scheduled to meet Rousseff and other officials at a government palace nearby.
The trip to the coastal metropolis, a return to his home continent by the former Argentine cardinal, is part of the biennial World Youth Day gathering.
Despite the novelty of a new pope, the visit comes as secular interests, other faiths and distaste for the sexual and financial scandals that have roiled the Vatican in recent years cause many Catholics in Latin America and around the world to leave the Church. The trip also comes amid growing economic and social dissatisfaction in Brazil, which is still home to more than 120 million Catholics.
The unease in June led to the biggest mass protests there in two decades as more than a million people in hundreds of cities rallied against everything from rising prices to corruption to poor public services.
In the five months since he succeeded Benedict, Francis has pleased many with his simple style, rejection of luxuries and calls for the Church to advocate on behalf of the poor and causes of social justice.
The world crisis is not treating young people well
Aboard his plane on Monday, the Pope told reporters the world risked losing a generation of young people to un-employment and called for a more inclusive culture.
“The world crisis is not treating young people well,” Pope Francis, 76, said. “We are running the risk of having a generation that does not work. From work comes a person’s dignity.”
Pope Francis left Rome airport earlier in the day for a week-long visit around World Youth Day, a massive gathering of young Catholics that is expected to attract over a million people to the city and nearby sites.
Brazilian officials hope that his message of solidarity with the poor and working classes will minimise the possibility of major protests during his visit.
Still, they have deployed more than 20,000 soldiers, police and security officials for the visit.
Throughout the week, Francis is scheduled to visit a nearby shrine, lead a giant service on Rio’s Copacabana beach and say Mass at a big rally outside the city.
Thousands of young pilgrims, many from neighbouring countries and some from as far away as the Philippines, flocked to Rio’s sunny seaside during the weekend and endured long queues to visit the city’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugarloaf mountain, a giant granite monolith.