Vatican City, May 9 (IANS/AKI) On his first foreign trip as pontiff, Pope Francis will tour a Rio de Janeiro slum in July and meet juvenile offenders, the Vatican said.
During the July 22-29 trip, the Pope will visit the Manguinhos slum, meet young inmates and also visit a hospital.
The Pope will attend the six-day World Youth Day event, which is expected to draw over 2.5 million people to Brazil.
He will visit the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, considered a patron of Brazil, the world's most populous Catholic country. Aparecida is some 240 km from Rio.
Latin America is home to 40 percent of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.
The Pope will also bless the flags for the 2016 Olympics taking place in Brazil.
--IANS/AKI
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