Gaining land for the pope

Gaining land for the pope

After months under prere, Francis can end the youth meeting in Panama on a positive note. The audience was kind to him, the host wanted to cut a good figure. A win-win situation.

After a good four-day stay at the Catholic World Youth Day in Panama, Pope Francis began his journey home to Rome on Sunday evening. At 6:27 p.m. (local time), the plane, a B788, of the Colombian airline Avianca took off from Tocumen International Airport. They are scheduled to arrive in Rome at 11:50 a.m. Monday afternoon.

Thanks to World Youth Day volunteers

Earlier, the head of the church was officially seen off at the airport by President Juan Carlos Varela and his wife Lorena Castillo.

Shortly before his departure, Pope Francis thanked the volunteers of the World Youth Day for their commitment. "Thank you all for being attentive these days, down to the smallest, most mundane and seemingly insignificant details," he said Sunday afternoon (local time) at a meeting with more than 10.000 of them at the Rommel Fernandez Stadium in Panama City. Altogether had over 20.000 voluntary aids to the success of the large meeting contributed.

At the meeting, helpers, including a young man from Poland, recounted their experiences during the mission, some of which lasted several months. The overall coordinator of the World Youth Day, Romulo Aguilar, also thanked the many thousands of helpers, including some young Muslims, Buddhists and Jews. A volunteer from Portugal, where the next World Youth Day will be held in Lisbon in 2022, told of the anticipation already there.

Appeal of the Pope at the end of the World Youth Day

Earlier, the Catholic World Youth Day in Panama with Pope Francis ended on Sunday with a festive church service. In his sermon to hundreds of thousands of believers at the Campo San Juan Pablo II, the head of the church focused on the idea of new beginnings: young people should not be put off with their questions and dreams. "Your lives are happening now – in the present," the pope appealed.

The closing service in Metro Park was the formal highlight of this year's World Youth Day, which began Tuesday in Panama. The closing mass was attended by an estimated 500 or more.000 people participated, the organizers spoke of 700.000. About 300.000 participants had already celebrated a two-hour evening prayer with Francis there the night before.

On Saturday morning, the pope had warned the assembled clergy and laity against the "temptation of hope fatigue" and "gray pragmatism" in a service in the renovated cathedral of Panama City. The most dangerous error of faith today is to think that Christ and Christians "have nothing more to say or to give".

At a lunch with ten participants from different countries, the pope was also asked about sexual abuse by a participant from the U.S. Francis had called this a "terrible crime," she told reporters afterwards. As advice from the pope for dealing with the crisis, the young woman said to accompany the victims, to remain united as a church and to pray.

Since his arrival in Panama on Wednesday, the Argentine addressed a wide range of ies: He urged politicians and business leaders at Thursday's official reception to renounce all corruption and give the new generation more say in shaping their own future. During a visit to a youth detention center on Friday, the 82-year-old criticized a society that obsessively labels others as evil and imprisons them. In two major events on Panama's coastal promenade, he called on tens of thousands of young people from around the world to work for a culture of encounter and resist populist tendencies of division and exclusion.

Praise from Bishop Oster

German youth bishop Stefan Oster praised World Youth Day in Panama on Sunday as a "celebration of international understanding". Anyone who has experienced the international meeting "cannot become a nationalist," the Passau bishop said in an interview with the Catholic News Agency (KNA). The next World Youth Day will take place in 2022 in the Portuguese capital Lisbon. This was announced by the Vatican on Sunday. This will be the ninth time a European city has hosted the event.

World Youth Days are considered the largest mass event of the Catholic Church. Hundreds of thousands usually come to the final services with the Pope. World Youth Days were founded in 1985 by John Paul II. (1978-2005) and are now held as a rule every three years. In the intervening years, they take place at the diocesan level.

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Christina Cherry
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