Pope Francis was meeting with a group of young convicts Friday and
was also going to hear confessions from some of the Catholic youth who
had thronged Copacabana Beach for World Youth Day.He celebrated the Angelus prayer with thousands gathered outside the local archbishop's residence.
Francis also called on young people to seek the wisdom of their grandparents.
"This relationship and this dialogue between generations is a treasure to be preserved and strengthened," he said.
Hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics packed the Copacabana Beach on Thursday night on an unseasonably cool and stormy night for an encounter with Francis, who implored the masses to turn toward faith instead of materialism. It is a recurring theme of his week-long visit to Brazil.
"Possessions, money and monetary power can give a momentary thrill, the illusion of being happy, but they end up possessing us and making us always want to have more," Francis told the crowd.
He called faith "revolutionary" and added that his followers' persistence and presence in the wet and windy weather was proof that "faith is stronger than rain and cold."
Once again, Francis drew praise from the young attendees, who call themselves pilgrims, and whose presence collapsed traffic in Copacabana and adjacent neighborhoods.
"He's class," quipped Chloe Love, 18, a pilgrim from Ireland.
"I didn't mind being out in the rain," added her friend Sarah Cadden, who said of the pope and his plain-speaking style, "He's humble and doesn't go on and on."
Another celebration with thousands of participants was planned for Copacabana later Friday evening.
The Thursday ceremony with the pope opened World Youth Day, a biannual gathering of young Catholics — but an event in which Francis also has been outlining his agenda for the church and his priority of putting the poor first.
Pope Francis walked the walk earlier in the day by venturing into the shanties of Rio to spread a message of solidarity with the poor.
"To the Brazilian people, especially the most humble among you, you can offer the world a valuable lesson in solidarity, a word that is too often forgotten or silenced, because it is too uncomfortable," Francis said to a crowd gathered on a soggy soccer pitch in the Varginha neighborhood.
"No one can remain insensitive to the inequalities that persist in the world," the pope continued. "The culture of selfishness and individualism that often prevails in our society is not what builds ... a more habitable world. It is a culture of solidarity that does."