A huge crowd awaits the arrival of Pope Francis on Copacabana beach. Photo: Paulo Whitaker/Reuters

Rio’s famed Copacabana beach, usually the venue for scantily clad sun-seekers and revelry, became a massive Catholic campground yesterday as Pope Francis concluded a youth festival by urging young people to go forth and build a new world.

A festive crowd estimated by organisers and the Vatican to be more than three million strong, including many who slept in the area and local residents who poured out of homes and buses, turned out to see the Argentine Pope on the final day of his week-long trip.

Aerial television footage showed the sand and pavements blanketed with people for several kilometres along the crescent-shaped shoreline.

“I was totally tranquil, waking up among the people on the beach. This view made it a very special and unique experience,” said Aline Vonsovicz, a 23-year-old Brazilian of Polish origin.

The throng of people, many in the green and yellow Brazilian colours, shouted and sang as the Pope was driven through the crowd in an open-sided popemobile, stopping often to kiss babies offered by their mothers on the shoreline most famous for its bars, nightclubs and hedonist spirit.

Bringing the Gospel is bringing God’s power to destroy and overthrow barriers of selfishness, intolerance and hatred, so as to build a new world

His message to the young people in Rio for week-long World Youth Day festivities, sometimes called “the Church’s Woodstock”, was serious: they should not make it a one-off experience.

In his sermon during the Mass from a huge, white stage at the beach’s northern tip, Pope Francis said they should return to their home countries energised and ready to work for social change.

“Bringing the Gospel is bringing God’s power to pluck up and break down evil and violence, to destroy and overthrow the barriers of selfishness, intolerance and hatred, so as to build a new world,” he said.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, Bolivian President Evo Morales and several Latin American Vice Presidents were among those who attended.