The sun rose over the Tagus River and woke up the pilgrims who spent the night on mats, cots or on the ground to be at the place of Francis’ mass, planned in the morning to avoid the heat, since the forecasts were for about 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for noon. From dawn, a DJ priest began playing Christian hymns and reggae through the sound system.
Francis left ahead of schedule to tour the countryside in his popemobile, continuing the improvisations that have characterized his trip. He has ignored prepared speeches in favor of impromptu talks with young people, substituting the formal prayer for peace in Ukraine at the Fatima shrine, a site long associated with calls for peace and conversion in Russia. The Vatican later posted part of the prayer on the X social network, formerly known as Twitter.
At the start of his 10-year papacy, Francis often went off-script and ignored his prepared speeches, seemingly inspired for the moment to engage directly even with huge crowds of people. In recent years he has stuck more to plans, especially on visits to places where Christians are in the minority or the public might not appreciate his informal style.
But in Lisbon he has found himself on familiar ground again, where many people can easily follow his native Spanish and seem to appreciate his more conversational way of communicating. During an evening vigil in front of 1.5 million people on Saturday night, Francis again abandoned his prepared speech, instead offering advice to those in attendance on journeying together in life and faith, urging the crowd to yell answers at him
“The only opportunity, the only moment that is lawful to look at a person from top to bottom is to help them get up,” Francisco told them.
In response to questions about whether the pope’s health is the reason for those ignored speeches, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni has said Francis is in good shape and does not suffer from vision problems that could make it difficult to read his texts.
The youngsters seemed enthusiastic about their words and on Saturday they braved the 38 degree C (100 F) temperatures again to get a place at the vigil.
Francis’ message this week has been one of inclusivity, stressing that “everyone, everyone, everyone” has a place in the Church. That fits with his message that the Church is not a space of rigid rules that only allows entry to the perfect, but a “field hospital” for wounded souls where all are welcome.
“In today’s world it is very important to accept ourselves as we are and to know our place as Christians and to validate it,” said Doriane Kilundum, a 23-year-old pilgrim from the Democratic Republic of Congo. “We really support the pope’s message and we are happy to be here.”
Kilundu said the experience of spending the night in the countryside, with 1.5 million other worshipers, was unprecedented for her and other Congolese pilgrims.
“I am accompanied by young girls from my country who are seeing people from other places for the first time, and understanding that we are one nation is beautiful for us,” she said.
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Associated Press coverage of religion is supported through the AP partnership with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for its content.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
