An estimated 3 million people poured onto Rio's Copacabana beach today for the final Mass of Pope Francis' historic trip to his home continent, cheering the first Latin American pope in one of the biggest turnouts for a papal Mass in recent history.
Speaking from a white stage and looking out over the enormous crowd, Francis urged young Catholics to go out and spread their faith "to the fringes of society, even to those who seem farthest away, most indifferent."
"The church needs you, your enthusiasm, your creativity and the joy that is so characteristic of you!" he said to applause in his final homily of World Youth Day.
Nearly the entire 4 kilometre crescent of Copacabana's broad beach overflowed with flag-waving faithful, some of them taking an early morning dip in the Atlantic and others tossing t-shirts, flags and soccer jerseys into the pontiff's open-sided car as he drove by. Francis worked the crowd, kissing babies, taking a sip of mate tea handed up to him and catching gifts on the fly.
Even the normally stern-faced Vatican bodyguards let smiles slip as they jogged alongside Francis' car, caught up in the enthusiasm of the crowd.
The numbers clearly overwhelmed the area's services: The stench of garbage and human waste hung in Rio's humid air, and the beach and adjoining chic Atlantic Avenue looked like an improvised refugee camp plunked down in the middle of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Copacabana's famous mosaic sidewalks were strewn with trampled cardboard, plastic bags, empty water bottles and cookie wrappers as trash collectors in orange uniforms tried to restore order.
Many of the youngsters on hand for the Mass spent the night on the beach, an all-night slumber party to end the Catholic youth fest, with pilgrims wrapped in flags and sleeping bags to ward off the cold. They danced, prayed and sang and waited in long lines in front of the armadas of portable bathrooms along the beachfront.
"We were dying of cold but it was worth it," said Lucrecia Grillera, an 18-year-old from Cordoba, Argentina, where Francis lived for a time before becoming pope. "It was a tiring day, but it was a great experience."
The Vatican said more than 3 million people were on hand for the Mass, based on information from World Youth Day organisers and local authorities who estimated two-thirds were from outside Rio. That was far higher than the 1 million at the last World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011 or the 850,000 at Toronto's 2002 concluding Mass.
