Pope Reveals ‘A Glimpse Of Heaven’, Encourages Youth To Fight

Pope Francis on Thursday urged young people to combine fighting to save the planet with tackling poverty during the second day of his visit to Portugal.

VerseNews Nigeria reports that the 86-year-old Francis, who has made the protection of the environment a cornerstone of his pontificate, returned to the theme during an open-air address to students at Lisbon’s Catholic University.

“We must recognise the dramatic and urgent need to care for our common home,” he said, speaking in his native Spanish. “Yet this cannot be done without a real change of heart.

“We cannot be satisfied with mere palliative measures or timid and ambiguous compromises,” he added.

Around 6,500 people, including Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and bishops, were gathered under a bright sun in a main square of the campus of the university to listen to the pope.

The crowd cheered and applauded when the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Roman Catholics pontiff took to the stage.

“Keep in mind that we need an integral ecology, attentive to the sufferings both of the planet and the poor,” he told them.

“We need to align the tragedy of desertification with that of refugees, the issue of increased migration with that of a declining birth rate.

“Instead of polarised approaches, we need a unified vision, a vision capable of embracing the whole.”

– ‘Moving stories’ –
After his speech, the pope headed to Cascais, a seaside town some 30 kilometres (20 miles) west of Lisbon, to visit the local branch of his Scholas Occurrentes foundation, a movement he founded in 2013 to bring young people from different backgrounds and nationalities together.

In keeping with his unpretentious style, the pontiff was driven to the foundation in a white Toyota car. Well-wishers lined the route, cheering, waving and taking pictures with their mobile phones.

DON’T MISS: Trump Appears In Court, Accused Of Endangering US Democracy

At the foundation he answered questions from youths before putting the final brushstroke on a mural that the community has been working on.

“This is your Sistine Chapel,” the pope said, sparking laughter from the assembled youths.

Before leaving, the pope watered an olive tree, the symbol of peace, in the patio of the foundation.

Francis began his day meeting 15 young people from Ukraine at the Holy See’s diplomatic mission in Lisbon where he is staying, the Vatican said in a brief statement.

“After listening to their moving stories, he addressed a few words to the young people,” it added.

The meeting had not been listed on the official programme of the pope’s visit.

– ‘Glimpse of heaven’ –
Up to 400,000 people are expected to take part at an official welcome ceremony later Thursday for the pope, who now uses a wheelchair or walking stick to get around, at the hillside Eduardo VII park.

Pope Francis arrived in Lisbon on Wednesday for World Youth Day festivities, which is in fact a six-day international Catholic jamboree.

Organisers expect a million people from over 200 countries for the week of festive, cultural and spiritual events.

“This is a glimpse of heaven because this is how heaven is going to be with so many people across the world,” Evlin Bosco, a 23-year-old engineer from India, told AFP.

“The joy and happiness on people’s faces everywhere, everyone is crossing barriers, helping each other and talking to people, that’s how heaven is going to be.”

World Youth Day, created in 1986 by John Paul II, is the largest Catholic gathering in the world and will feature a wide range of events, including concerts and prayer sessions.

This edition, initially scheduled for August 2022 but postponed because of the pandemic, will be the fourth for Francis after Rio de Janeiro in 2013, Krakow in 2016 and Panama in 2019.