The Pope bids farewell to World Youth Day in Lisbon at a mass with 1.5 million pilgrims: “Do not be afraid”

This Pope does not like circumlocutions. His messages are concise and direct. The last one he left at the mass mass that he officiated this Sunday next to the Tagus River park in Lisbon, which was attended by a million and a half Catholics, according to the Vatican, was also: “Do not be afraid.” It was his last mass bath at World Youth Day (WYD), which closes this afternoon with a meeting with the volunteers who have worked on the event, in which it was announced that the next event will take place in Seoul (South Korea). South) in 2027 in a nod from the Vatican to Asia, where it seeks to establish itself. Although Catholics are only 11% of the South Korean population, behind Protestants and Buddhists, the Church of Rome is experiencing a sweet moment due to the growth in conversions (baptisms among adults increased by 9% in 2022) and social recognition. .

During this week, Francisco has been kind to the young people, but not condescending. He warned them against false virtual idolatries, against arrogance and against comfort. Among the things he said on Saturday at the beginning of a night vigil in the Tagus park, where the events of the weekend were concentrated, two sentences: “The only time it is lawful to look at a person from top to bottom is to help to lift it up”; “In this life nothing is free.” And he advised them on the difficult days: “Do you think that a person who fails, who makes a mistake, who falls, is finished?” he asked the crowd, again skipping the written speech. “There is a nice phrase from mountaineers that can be taken as a souvenir today: what matters is not falling, what matters is not staying down,” he said.

Both the Pope and the participants leave charged with the energy that identification with a crowd provides, something that also happens outside of religion on soccer fields or at Taylor Swift concerts. For the Vatican, which is facing years of crisis due to the scandals of sexual abuse and the advance of secularization in European societies, the success of the Portuguese WYD is a shot of optimism. For the Pontiff, who has his main adversaries within the conservative hierarchy, it is a reaffirmation of power that can help him in his reformist drive, for which he has found more support among the Portuguese Episcopal Conference than in the Spanish. No one can doubt Francis’ charisma among Catholics, even if they later move away from his inclusive vision of the Church, as did the ultra-conservatives who wanted to boycott a Mass for the LGTBIQ community.

The event has also been an organizational success that enhances Portugal’s external image, as happened at Expo 98, although on this occasion the added difficulty of managing large crowds in just five days was faced. The satisfaction with the development of the events, which have passed without serious incidents, was evident in the faces of the Prime Minister, the socialist António Costa, and the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who attended most of the appointments with the Pope.

Not all Portuguese society shares, however, the institutional commitment to the great event of the Catholic Church. The Day has cost about 160 million euros, half of which have been provided by the Government and the three town halls where events have been held (Lisbon, Loures and Oeiras). It is true that part of the public outlay has made it possible to urbanize a degraded area, which continues the territorial planning begun during the 1998 Expo in the eastern part of Lisbon, but this has not been enough to reduce criticism.

This appointment has been the most burdensome for public coffers of the four where it has been held during Francisco’s term, although part of the costs have skyrocketed due to a context of international inflation that did not exist when they were organized in Brazil (136 million euros). euros, 72.55 million were from public funds), Poland (48.5 million, four of them public) and Panama (19 million, there were no public funds). The 2011 WYD in Madrid, with Pope Benedict XVI, cost 51 million, mainly paid for by pilgrims and sponsorships. The State collaborated with tax exemptions, but did not invest in new infrastructure.

Against this public spending and sexual abuse in the Church several hundred people gathered on Friday in a square in Lisbon. “I am angry with what is happening and the passivity we have. I am referring to the expenses, the arrogance of occupying public space and the pretense that everything is for the good of the people,” Maria Luísa Sequeira, one of the protesters, told the newspaper Public.

The upheaval of ordinary life was inevitable. The people of Lisbon left the city and the tourists did not come. The center of Lisbon, where the celebrations were concentrated in the first days, was taken over by thousands of pilgrims. For employees from nearby locations, it was a challenge to serve them. And another challenge is to return home exhausted from work due to the decrease in public transport due to the closure of metro stations and the closure of streets to traffic. “I believe that transport has not been reinforced or well organized,” lamented a saleswoman on Saturday, who was happy to recover normality.

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