pope visit cascais

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS to PORTUGAL

ON THE OCCASION OF THE XXXVII WORLD YOUTH DAY

2 - 6 AUGUST 2023

• Missal for the Apostolic Journey
• Photo Gallery
• Message of the Holy Father for the XXXVII World Youth Day

Wednesday, 2 August 2023

ROME - LISBON

Thursday, 3 August 2023

LISBONA - CASCAIS - LISBONA

Friday, 4 August 2023

Saturday, 5 August 2023

LISBON - FATIMA - LISBON

Sunday, 6 August 2023 

LISBON - ROME

Holy See Press Office Bulletin , 6 June 2023

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

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Pope Francis will be in Portugal for 5 days. Here’s what he will visit

A group of Vietnamese from the United States travelling to attend International World Youth Day stand in front of the 16th century Jeronimos monastery in Lisbon, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Pope Francis will visit the monastery when he arrives Aug. 2 to attend the event that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Lisbon and goes on until Aug. 6. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

World Youth Day pilgrims queue to catch public transport outside the 16th century Jeronimos monastery, in the background, in Lisbon, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Pope Francis will visit the monastery when he arrives Aug. 2 to attend the international event that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Lisbon and goes on until Aug. 6. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

A World Youth Day pilgrim holds a Progress Pride Flag outside the 16th century Jeronimos monastery, in the background, in Lisbon, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Pope Francis will visit the monastery when he arrives Aug. 2 to attend the international event that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Lisbon and goes on until Aug. 6. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

International World Youth Day pilgrims from from different parts of the world wave flags outside the 16th century Jeronimos monastery in Lisbon, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Pope Francis will visit the monastery when he arrives Aug. 2 to attend the event that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Lisbon and goes on until Aug. 6. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

Pilgrims from different countries, travelling to participate in the World Youth Day, wave flags outside the 16th century Jeronimos monastery in Lisbon, Portugal, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Pope Francis will visit the monastery when he arrives Aug. 2 to attend the international event that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Lisbon and goes on until Aug. 6. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

World Youth Day pilgrims from Mexico pose with their national flags outside the 16th century Jeronimos monastery, in the background, in Lisbon, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Pope Francis will visit the monastery when he arrives Aug. 2 to attend the international event that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Lisbon and goes on until Aug. 6. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

A priest listens to confession in a row of confessionals set up for pilgrims arriving for international World Youth Day at a park in Lisbon, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Pope Francis will arrive Aug. 2 to attend the event that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Lisbon and goes on until Aug. 6. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

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LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis begins a five-day trip to Portugal on Wednesday for World Youth Day , the international Catholic jamboree that is expected to gather around 1 million people.

While in Portugal, Francis will visit the place from where 15th- and 16th-century Portuguese explorers set sail on world-changing voyages to Africa, Asia and South America, a church and monastery that are unique architectural gems, and one of the world’s most popular Catholic shrines where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to children.

Here’s a look at where Francis will go.

BELEM NATIONAL PALACE

The official reception is at the Palácio Nacional de Belém, which is the Portuguese president’s residence, also known as the pink palace.

It sits beside the Tagus River in the neighborhood of Belem, which in Portuguese means Bethlehem. It was from here that Portugal’s maritime explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries, such as Vasco da Gama, set sail.

The cross and the crown went together on those journeys, though in March the Vatican formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery — the theories backed by 15th-century “papal bulls” that legitimized Portugal and Spain’s colonial-era conquests and seizures of land.

BELEM CULTURAL CENTER

The Centro Cultural de Belem was built as the base for Portugal’s first ever presidency, in 1992, of what is now called the European Union.

The pink-and-white stone-trimmed building now houses the Atlantic port’s Contemporary Art Museum and concert halls.

Francis meets here Wednesday with Lisbon’s diplomatic corps, local officials and members of civil society.

JERONIMOS CHURCH AND MONASTERY

The pontiff will be at evening prayers at the Jeronimos Church and Monastery later Wednesday at what arguably is Portugal’s greatest monument. Its construction began in 1501 as King Manuel I’s biggest prestige project.

The site is now one of Lisbon’s signature buildings and one of the city’s architectural gems.

Formerly a quaint fishing village, with narrow streets in its center, Cascais is now a flourishing tourist town with sought-after beaches and is one of Portugal’s wealthiest areas.

Francis travels to Cascais, which is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of Lisbon, along the Atlantic coast, to the town on Thursday to visit a branch of Scholas Occurrentes, a youth foundation he launched.

PRACA DO IMPERIO

The broad, gardened Empire Square with its large fountain in Belem was built as part of the 1940 Exhibition of the Portuguese World, an event put on by dictator Antonio Salazar’s government to showcase the empire.

In May, the Vatican recalled a postage stamp promoting World Youth Day following complaints that it celebrated Portugal’s colonial rule and the dictatorship. It featured Francis leading a group of children up Lisbon’s Monument to the Discoveries across the road, which also started out as an exhibit.

The pope will hear confessions in the square on Friday.

SERAFINA NEIGHBORHOOD

The pope will visit Serafina’s community center on Friday. It was a troubled district of the capital at the end of the last century, dogged by drug and crime problems.

But the community center run by Rev. Francisco Crespo has helped it put that past behind it. The neighborhood sits beneath Lisbon’s giant 18th-century aqueduct, an emphatic reminder of the bounty that gold from its Brazilian colony afforded Portugal.

PARQUE EDUARDO VII

Central Lisbon’s largest park, Parque Eduardo VII, rises to a ridge offering a view to the Tagus River over downtown Lisbon. It was named in 1903 for King Edward VII of Britain, who had visited Lisbon the previous year. The pontiff will be there for a reception on Thursday and presides over the Way of the Cross procession on Friday.

The shrine in the rural Portuguese town of Fatima, which is one of the Catholic Church’s most popular pilgrimage destinations, became famous after three local children reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary above a tree there in 1917.

The sanctuary can hold hundreds of thousands of people.

Francis travels to the town about 120 kilometers (about 70 miles) north of Lisbon by helicopter on Saturday.

PARQUE DO TEJO

The Parque do Tejo is in one of Lisbon’s newest residential areas, which grew out of the 1998 Lisbon World Fair. That event swept aside Lisbon’s rusting eastern industrial area.

Francis will hold a vigil with thousands of young people at the park on Saturday evening and will celebrate Mass at the site on Sunday morning.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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Official Schedule for Pope's Visit

Official schedule for the apostolic journey of his holiness pope francis to portugal on the occasion of the world youth day lisbon 2023, 2 - 6 august 2023.

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World's largest mural to welcome Pope Francis

Cascais is preparing to welcome His Holiness Pope Francis and, with him, thousands of young people from all over the world for World Youth Day (WYD). To welcome him in the most special way, a three-kilometre collaborative mural has been created to unite the community, resulting from the interfaith, intergenerational, intercultural and inclusive encounter in which everyone has played a part.

Cascais City Council has teamed up with Scholas Occurrentes to create the world's largest work of art, painted by the Cascais community, on which the Pope himself is invited to make the last brushstroke. "At this moment, we are sure that we will beat the world record for the biggest work of art (...), and this is something that makes me very happy, especially because the whole community has been involved ," explained Carlos Carreiras, Mayor of Cascais, who is proud of the work done by the Cascais community.  

This work led to the meeting of different ways of life in the four parishes of the municipality of Cascais, involving the community of state and private schools, institutions supporting people with disabilities, youth associations, the prisons of Linhó and Tires, Cascais Hospital, Day Centres and Senior Universities, various religious groups, colleagues from the municipality, Youth Volunteer Programmes and many others.

The 3,000 metres of panels will be displayed along a route between Estoril and Cascais on which Pope Francis will pass, ending at the headquarters of Scholas Occurrentes. But more than this, the true encounter between worlds will be visible, of those who had the courage to use art to express their pain, joys, fears, achievements and injustices.

The mural in numbers 

+ 1,500 litres of paint

+ 12,000 brushes

+ 2,000 participants

+ 500 hours

300 screens measuring 10 metres each

Pope Francis in Portugal: A return to the crowds, meeting victims of abuse and a further shift from eurocentrism

The pontiff has once again given prominence to his social agenda during world youth day.

That Jorge Mario Bergoglio was going to be a pope cut from a different cloth as his predecessor, Benedict XVI, was clear from the moment he chose his official name in 2013: Francis, one of the most humble and compassionate saints in Catholicism. All subsequent decisions continued along the same path, to the point that he has been labeled “the anti-capitalist pope” due to his criticism of the excesses of economic neoliberalism. He has also come out in defense of the climate — since before Greta Thunberg appeared on the scene — but the most radical transformation is the one Francis is promoting within the Church itself, which has led to open criticism from the most conservative sectors over his determination to reverse dogmas that appeared immovable, such as the celibacy of priests, the marginalization of women, and the condemnation of homosexuals. “Who am I to judge them?” he rhetorically asked on his return from a trip to Brazil for World Youth Day 2013. Earlier this year, he stated during an interview: “Being homosexual is not a crime.” All these issues will be on the agenda during his five-day trip to Portugal , which begins Wednesday and includes a meeting with victims of sexual abuse in the Portuguese Church.

Back to outside work. The Pope’s extended stay in Portugal will allow him to gauge his physical recovery following an operation for an abdominal hernia that hospitalized him for nine days in June. His itinerary includes a trip to the sanctuary of Fátima on Saturday and another to Cascais to visit a school that runs an educational program he started in Buenos Aires in 2001.

His age (86) and recent hospital admissions had led some to speculate that Francis is entering the final phase of his papacy. Benedict XVI stepped down when he was 85, after almost eight years at the head of the Holy See. This years’ World Youth Day, which is expected to be attended by over one million pilgrims , is also the first to be held since the coronavirus pandemic. The previous edition, in Panama City, was attended by some 800,000 people.

Cardinal periphery. Three weeks before traveling to Lisbon, Pope Francis announced the surprise appointment of 21 new cardinals who, he said, “express the universality of the planet.” Once again, he reinforced the presence of Latin cardinals in a further shift from the eurocentrism that has traditionally characterized the Vatican. The new cardinals will be named in a ceremony on September 30. Among them is the Portuguese Américo Aguiar, who has been the visible head of the organization of World Youth Day in Lisbon.

Two-thirds of the College of Cardinals, the body that elects popes, has already been proposed by Francis, who has strengthened the power of those prelates considered more progressive and reformist, including the president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference and bishop of Fatima-Leiria, José Ornelas.

Victims of sexual abuse. The pontiff is expected to hold a meeting with victims of sexual abuse in the Portuguese Church during his stay in Lisbon, although it has not been officially announced. In June, Bishop Aguiar confirmed that the interview would take place, but declined to provide further details. “We respect the people invited to participate, who would not feel comfortable with the presence of media. It is not a taboo or to hide information. It is a gentlemen’s agreement,” Aguiar said.

In February, a report carried out by an independent commission created by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference to investigate pederasty in institutions , or during activities linked to the Catholic Church, between 1950 and 2022 was presented. The commission estimated that at least 4,815 minors were sexually abused. The places where these abuses occurred most frequently were the seminary, the church, the confessional, and the parish house. The average age at which abuse started was 11.2 years old.

The Portuguese Church apologized to the victims and has created a permanent structure to channel all new complaints that may arise, and to facilitate psychological treatment for victims if required. Although it has refused to establish general indemnities, the president of the Episcopal Conference, José Ornelas, has expressed his willingness to provide financial support to victims.

Social agenda. In addition to the Catholic youth, to whom he will dedicate a large part of his public agenda, Francis plans to meet with prisoners and the sick in Fátima, as well as visiting a parish center in the Libertad neighborhood, which is sometimes described as Lisbon’s “favela.”

Although World Youth Day has not lost its religious identity, in recent years it has also cultivated the spirit of a macro-festival where multiculturalism is celebrated. Pilgrims from all over the world will attend the Portuguese edition. As of Tuesday, 354,000 young people had officially registered.

A less Catholic country. Traditionally, Portugal has been one of the countries in Europe where Catholicism carries the most weight, in addition to Italy, Ireland and Spain. Around seven million Portuguese declare themselves Catholics — about 70% of the population — according to data from the latest census by the National Institute of Statistics. It is among the 10 most Catholic countries in Europe, although there are also contradictory signs that show the advance of secularization in Portuguese society, such as people living in de facto unions (which increased from 380,00 to more than one million between 2001 and 2021) or in registered non-Catholic marriages, which stood at 73% in 2022.

Meanwhile, public expenditure dedicated to World Youth Day, which is estimated at around €80 million ($87.8 million) has provided a target for criticism from leftist political parties. The Left Bloc political formation and the co-founder of the Livre green party, Rui Tavares, who is also a member of the Lisbon City Council, have declined to participate in the institutional acts of welcome for the Pope on Wednesday.

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Portugal prepares to welcome over a million people during the Pope’s visit

The conservative sector of the Church vs. Pope Francis: “Only a fool can speak of a springtime in the Church”

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Pope Francis will be in Portugal for 5 days. Here’s what he will visit

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis begins a five-day trip to Portugal on Wednesday for World Youth Day, the international Catholic jamboree that is expected to gather around 1 million people.

While in Portugal, Francis will visit the place from where 15th- and 16th-century Portuguese explorers set sail on world-changing voyages to Africa, Asia and South America, a church and monastery that are unique architectural gems, and one of the world’s most popular Catholic shrines where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to children.

Here’s a look at where Francis will go.

BELEM NATIONAL PALACE

The official reception is at the Palácio Nacional de Belém, which is the Portuguese president’s residence, also known as the pink palace.

It sits beside the Tagus River in the neighborhood of Belem, which in Portuguese means Bethlehem. It was from here that Portugal’s maritime explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries, such as Vasco da Gama, set sail.

The cross and the crown went together on those journeys, though in March the Vatican formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery — the theories backed by 15th-century “papal bulls” that legitimized Portugal and Spain’s colonial-era conquests and seizures of land.

BELEM CULTURAL CENTER

The Centro Cultural de Belem was built as the base for Portugal’s first ever presidency, in 1992, of what is now called the European Union.

The pink-and-white stone-trimmed building now houses the Atlantic port’s Contemporary Art Museum and concert halls.

Francis meets here Wednesday with Lisbon’s diplomatic corps, local officials and members of civil society.

JERONIMOS CHURCH AND MONASTERY

The pontiff will be at evening prayers at the Jeronimos Church and Monastery later Wednesday at what arguably is Portugal’s greatest monument. Its construction began in 1501 as King Manuel I’s biggest prestige project.

The site is now one of Lisbon’s signature buildings and one of the city’s architectural gems.

Formerly a quaint fishing village, with narrow streets in its center, Cascais is now a flourishing tourist town with sought-after beaches and is one of Portugal’s wealthiest areas.

Francis travels to Cascais, which is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of Lisbon, along the Atlantic coast, to the town on Thursday to visit a branch of Scholas Occurrentes, a youth foundation he launched.

PRACA DO IMPERIO

The broad, gardened Empire Square with its large fountain in Belem was built as part of the 1940 Exhibition of the Portuguese World, an event put on by dictator Antonio Salazar’s government to showcase the empire.

In May, the Vatican recalled a postage stamp promoting World Youth Day following complaints that it celebrated Portugal’s colonial rule and the dictatorship. It featured Francis leading a group of children up Lisbon’s Monument to the Discoveries across the road, which also started out as an exhibit.

The pope will hear confessions in the square on Friday.

SERAFINA NEIGHBORHOOD

The pope will visit Serafina’s community center on Friday. It was a troubled district of the capital at the end of the last century, dogged by drug and crime problems.

But the community center run by Rev. Francisco Crespo has helped it put that past behind it. The neighborhood sits beneath Lisbon’s giant 18th-century aqueduct, an emphatic reminder of the bounty that gold from its Brazilian colony afforded Portugal.

PARQUE EDUARDO VII

Central Lisbon’s largest park, Parque Eduardo VII, rises to a ridge offering a view to the Tagus River over downtown Lisbon. It was named in 1903 for King Edward VII of Britain, who had visited Lisbon the previous year. The pontiff will be there for a reception on Thursday and presides over the Way of the Cross procession on Friday.

The shrine in the rural Portuguese town of Fatima, which is one of the Catholic Church’s most popular pilgrimage destinations, became famous after three local children reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary above a tree there in 1917.

The sanctuary can hold hundreds of thousands of people.

Francis travels to the town about 120 kilometers (about 70 miles) north of Lisbon by helicopter on Saturday.

PARQUE DO TEJO

The Parque do Tejo is in one of Lisbon’s newest residential areas, which grew out of the 1998 Lisbon World Fair. That event swept aside Lisbon’s rusting eastern industrial area.

Francis will hold a vigil with thousands of young people at the park on Saturday evening and will celebrate Mass at the site on Sunday morning.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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Pope Francis urges students in Portugal to fight economic injustice, protect environment

Pope Francis and Scholas Occurrentes' President Jose Maria del Corral, second from left, attend a meeting with members of the Scholas Occurrentes community of young people, an International educational movement created by Pope Francis himself, in Cascais, 25 kilometers south of Lisbon, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023. Francis will give the final brushstroke to the 3 km mural that the community has been working on and that is the result of the work of more than two thousand people. (AP/Marco Bertorello)

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From a university campus to a seaside town, Pope Francis challenged young people on Thursday to make the world a more just and inclusive place, as he focused the second day of his Portugal trip on inspiring students to use their privilege to combat global warming and economic inequalities.

Francis received a warm welcome first at the Catholic University in Lisbon, one of Portugal's top institutions of higher learning. He then had a more intimate, informal encounter with young people in the former fishing village of Cascais, where he was serenaded with a mournful performance of the traditional Portuguese fado, meaning fate or destiny.

Francis is in Portugal through the weekend to attend World Youth Day, the big Catholic jamboree that St. John Paul II launched in the 1980s to encourage young Catholics in their faith. The Argentine Jesuit has picked up John Paul's mantle with gusto as he seeks to inspire the next generation to rally behind his key social justice and environmental priorities .

He's also using his private time in Lisbon to meet with individual groups of pilgrims to offer words of encouragement: A group of Ukrainians who left behind war; Turkish pilgrims who survived February's devastating earthquake; and relatives of a French catechist who had a fatal fall while on her Youth Day pilgrimage.

In his remarks at the university Thursday morning, Francis urged the students to take risks and reject the temptation to merely perpetuate the status quo — the "present global system of elitism and inequality" — with an attitude of self-preservation.

"An academic degree should not be seen merely as a license to pursue personal well-being, but as a mandate to work for a more just and inclusive — that is, truly progressive — society," he said.

Francis urged the students to instead use the privilege of their education to care for the environment, the poor and marginalized and "redefine what we mean by progress and development."

"Yours can be the generation that takes up this great challenge," he said. "We need to align the tragedy of desertification with that of refugees, the issue of increased migration with that of a declining birth rate, and to see the material dimension of life within the greater purview of the spiritual."

Pope Francis attends a meeting with the students of the Portuguese Catholic University in Lisbon, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023. (AP/Gregorio Borgia)

Many young Catholics around the world have embraced Francis' core teachings about correcting economic injustices and promoting environmental custodianship, joining church-sponsored foundations and social movements under the banner of the "Economy of Francis" the "Global Compact on Education" and the Laudato Si' movement, named for Francis' 2015 encyclical on the environment.

"I think that all the young people feel very close and very friendly even with the pope," said Mathilde Laborinho, who attended the university event. "And it's very nice to see that he comes here and has a little meeting."

After the event, Francis met with another group of students in the popular tourist resort of Cascais at the local branch of his Scolas Occurrentes foundation, a movement he founded years ago to bring young people from different backgrounds and nationalities together. Sitting in a brilliantly-painted common room, Francis chatted informally with the youths who told him of their anxieties and concerns.

Saying the room looked like a "Sistine Chapel painted by you," Francis told them that a life without chaos or crises was like drinking distilled water: tasteless and "gross."

Francis urged them to work through their conflicts with others. "It's important to walk together, resolve crises together and go forward, growing," he said.

As he left, popular singer Cuca Roseta serenaded him with a sentimental, a cappella fado version of "Ave Maria," while along his motorcade route was the three-kilometer long banner that Scolas members had painted in honor of his visit.

Francis' visit to Portugal is aimed primarily at young people — he was formally opening World Youth Day later Thursday in Lisbon — but his message about reversing economic inequalities has found resonance here among people of all ages, and many people lined his route, watching from balconies or the street as his motorcade passed.

"It's a big issue and more should be done about it," said Alison Morais, a 42-year-old Brazilian immigrant who works as a store assistant in Cascais. "It's hard to change it but at least people listen to what (the pope) says and it gets the conversation going."

Francis arrived in Lisbon on Wednesday and dove head-on into Portugal's clergy sexual abuse crisis , which has intensified after a panel of experts hired by Portugal's bishops reported in February that priests and other church personnel may have abuse at least 4,815 boys and girls since 1950.

Meeting with the country's bishops at Lisbon's iconic Jeronimos Monastery, Francis blasted the "scandal" of sexual abuse, which he said had marred the face of the church and helped drive the faithful away. He told the bishops that victims must always be welcomed and heard.

After nightfall, after a long day of travel and protocol visits, Francis met for more than an hour with 13 victims at the Vatican embassy, listening to their traumas, the Vatican said.

The encounter, which had been expected since Francis met with survivors on previous trips abroad , was aimed at trying to help the Portuguese hierarchy and faithful come to terms with the church's own legacy of abuse and coverup.

Antonio Morais, 62, who briefly closed his Cascais jewelry store to watch the pope's motorcade pass by on Thursday, said he was glad the pontiff raised the issue as soon as he arrived.

"Unhappily, it happened, and if he didn't speak out about it, it might continue," Morais said. "People are more aware of it now and can speak up when they see something."

[Winfield and Alves reported from Lisbon, Portugal.]

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Pope Francis’ schedule for his trip to Portugal

FILIPPO MONTEFORTE | AFP

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Pope Francis’ 42nd apostolic journey will be to Portugal. He will travel from August 2 to 6, 2023, to attend World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon and is scheduled to deliver eight speeches and two homilies, according to the official program published on June 6 by the Vatican press office. During these five days, the Pope will make a stopover in Fatima on August 5, a Marian shrine he visited previously in 2017.

This will be the fourth WYD that the 86-year-old Argentine Pontiff will attend. In 2013, the newly elected Pope Francis visited Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; in 2016, Krakow, Poland; and in 2019, he celebrated the 34th WYD in Panama.

Portugal has a different time zone to Italy. In Lisbon ( UTC+1h), it will be one hour earlier than in Rome or Paris (UTC+2h). All hours in this text are given in the local Portuguese time zone ( UTC+1h), with the exception of the departure and return times to Rome (UTC+2h).

A private meeting with victims of sexual assaults committed by members of the Portuguese clergy is scheduled to take place during the Pope’s stay in Portugal, however it has not been officially announced by the Holy See. It is not included in the official program.

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Pope Francis will take off from Rome’s Fiumicino airport at 7:50 a.m., for a 3 hour and 10 minute flight aboard a plane chartered by ITA Airways. The distance which will be traveled is 1957 km, or 1216 miles. The Pope will receive an official welcome upon landing at 10 a.m. at the Figo Maduro Air Base in Lisbon (1).

At 10:45 a.m. an official welcome ceremony is then scheduled for the Pontiff at the Belém Palace (2), the official residence of the President of the Republic, some 9 miles south of the airport, on the seafront. Francis will then pay a courtesy visit to the Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, at 11:15 p.m. Then, an hour later, the Pope will meet with the country’s authorities, the diplomatic corps and representatives of civil society, to whom he will deliver his first speech in Portugal, at the Cultural Center of Belém (3).

In the afternoon, the Pope will meet with the head of government, Prime Minister Antonio Costa, at 4:45 p.m. at the Apostolic Nunciature (4).

The day will end at the Jerónimos Monastery (5), where the Pope will celebrate vespers at 5:30 p.m. with bishops, priests, consecrated persons, deacons, seminarians and those involved in the country’s pastoral care. He will then deliver a homily in this Unesco-listed Renaissance monument, some 4 miles from the Apostolic Nunciature.

Thursday, August 3, 2023

On August 3, Pope Francis is expected at 9 a.m. at the Catholic University of Portugal (6), a little over 1 mile north of the Nunciature, where he will deliver a speech.

The Pope will then travel some 19 miles to Cascais, a neighboring town to the west of Lisbon, for a meeting with young people from the Scholas Occurentes education network, at the headquarters of this Vatican foundation (7). The Argentine Pontiff will then greet the members of this organization.

At the end of the day, at 5:45 p.m., the Pope will go to Lisbon’s “Eduardo VII” Park, where he will take part in the welcome ceremony for World Youth Day (WYD) with the participants. The Pope will deliver a speech in this park, which also has a monumental lookout over the Portuguese capital. 

Friday, August 4, 2023

Pope Francis will spend the third day of his trip in Lisbon. In the morning, at 9 a.m., he will take part in the sacrament of confession for young people participating in the WYD, at the Empire Square (“Praça do Império”), a garden adjacent to the  Jerónimos Monastery (9).

At 9:45 a.m., the Pope will meet representatives of charity centers at the Serafina parish center (10), where he will deliver a speech. At noon, he will have lunch with young people at the Apostolic Nunciature (11).

He will conclude the day with the WYD Stations of the Cross, in the “Eduardo VII” Park, at 6 p.m., where he will give a speech (12).

Saturday, August 5, 2023

On Saturday, Pope Francis will visit the Marian shrine of Fatima (13) – some 64 miles from Lisbon – for the second time in his pontificate after his 2017 visit. He will make the journey by helicopter, taking off at 8 a.m. and landing at the Fatima stadium at 8:50 a.m.

At 9:30 a.m. the Pope will pray a rosary with sick young people and give a speech at the Chapel of Apparitions of the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. The Pope will then leave for Lisbon by helicopter at 11 a.m.

As he does on every trip, the Pope will meet members of the Society of Jesus in private at 6 p.m. at the St. John de Britto College (14) in Lisbon.

The traditional WYD vigil will then take place at 8:45 p.m. in the Tagus Park, a 90-hectare natural park on Lisbon’s east coast, bordered by the River Tagus (15). The Pope will give a speech to the several hundred thousand young people expected to attend.

Sunday, August 6, 2023

Still at the Tagus Park (16) where the young people will have spent the night, Pope Francis will celebrate the concluding mass of WYD, at 9 a.m. At the end of the celebration, the location of the next WYD should be announced.

After a short rest, the Pontiff will finally meet WYD volunteers at 4:30 p.m at the Algés Boardwalk (17), in the south of the Portuguese capital. It is here that the Pontiff will deliver his last speech in Portugal.

At 5:50 p.m., a farewell ceremony will take place at the Figo Maduro Air Base. The return flight, chartered by the airline TAP Air Portugal, will take off for Rome at 6:15 p.m. Pope Francis is due to arrive at Rome Fiumicino airport at 10:15 p.m.

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Pope Francis Will Be in Portugal for 5 Days. Here's What He Will Visit

Pope Francis is beginning a five-day trip to Portugal for World Youth Day

Pope Francis Will Be in Portugal for 5 Days. Here's What He Will Visit

Ana Brigida

A group of Vietnamese from the United States travelling to attend International World Youth Day stand in front of the 16th century Jeronimos monastery in Lisbon, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Pope Francis will visit the monastery when he arrives Aug. 2 to attend the event that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Lisbon and goes on until Aug. 6. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis begins a five-day trip to Portugal on Wednesday for World Youth Day , the international Catholic jamboree that is expected to gather around 1 million people.

While in Portugal, Francis will visit the place from where 15th- and 16th-century Portuguese explorers set sail on world-changing voyages to Africa, Asia and South America, a church and monastery that are unique architectural gems, and one of the world’s most popular Catholic shrines where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to children.

Here’s a look at where Francis will go.

BELEM NATIONAL PALACE

The official reception is at the Palácio Nacional de Belém, which is the Portuguese president’s residence, also known as the pink palace.

Photos You Should See - April 2024

It sits beside the Tagus River in the neighborhood of Belem, which in Portuguese means Bethlehem. It was from here that Portugal’s maritime explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries, such as Vasco da Gama, set sail.

The cross and the crown went together on those journeys, though in March the Vatican formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery — the theories backed by 15th-century “papal bulls” that legitimized Portugal and Spain’s colonial-era conquests and seizures of land.

BELEM CULTURAL CENTER

The Centro Cultural de Belem was built as the base for Portugal’s first ever presidency, in 1992, of what is now called the European Union.

The pink-and-white stone-trimmed building now houses the Atlantic port’s Contemporary Art Museum and concert halls.

Francis meets here Wednesday with Lisbon’s diplomatic corps, local officials and members of civil society.

JERONIMOS CHURCH AND MONASTERY

The pontiff will be at evening prayers at the Jeronimos Church and Monastery later Wednesday at what arguably is Portugal’s greatest monument. Its construction began in 1501 as King Manuel I’s biggest prestige project.

The site is now one of Lisbon’s signature buildings and one of the city's architectural gems.

Formerly a quaint fishing village, with narrow streets in its center, Cascais is now a flourishing tourist town with sought-after beaches and is one of Portugal’s wealthiest areas.

Francis travels to Cascais, which is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of Lisbon, along the Atlantic coast, to the town on Thursday to visit a branch of Scholas Occurrentes, a youth foundation he launched.

PRACA DO IMPERIO

The broad, gardened Empire Square with its large fountain in Belem was built as part of the 1940 Exhibition of the Portuguese World, an event put on by dictator Antonio Salazar’s government to showcase the empire.

In May, the Vatican recalled a postage stamp promoting World Youth Day following complaints that it celebrated Portugal’s colonial rule and the dictatorship. It featured Francis leading a group of children up Lisbon’s Monument to the Discoveries across the road, which also started out as an exhibit.

The pope will hear confessions in the square on Friday.

SERAFINA NEIGHBORHOOD

The pope will visit Serafina's community center on Friday. It was a troubled district of the capital at the end of the last century, dogged by drug and crime problems.

But the community center run by Rev. Francisco Crespo has helped it put that past behind it. The neighborhood sits beneath Lisbon’s giant 18th-century aqueduct, an emphatic reminder of the bounty that gold from its Brazilian colony afforded Portugal.

PARQUE EDUARDO VII

Central Lisbon’s largest park, Parque Eduardo VII, rises to a ridge offering a view to the Tagus River over downtown Lisbon. It was named in 1903 for King Edward VII of Britain, who had visited Lisbon the previous year. The pontiff will be there for a reception on Thursday and presides over the Way of the Cross procession on Friday.

The shrine in the rural Portuguese town of Fatima, which is one of the Catholic Church’s most popular pilgrimage destinations, became famous after three local children reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary above a tree there in 1917.

The sanctuary can hold hundreds of thousands of people.

Francis travels to the town about 120 kilometers (about 70 miles) north of Lisbon by helicopter on Saturday.

PARQUE DO TEJO

The Parque do Tejo is in one of Lisbon’s newest residential areas, which grew out of the 1998 Lisbon World Fair. That event swept aside Lisbon’s rusting eastern industrial area.

Francis will hold a vigil with thousands of young people at the park on Saturday evening and will celebrate Mass at the site on Sunday morning.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Copyright 2023 The  Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Pope Francis will be in Portugal for 5 days. Here's what he will visit

Portugal world youth day.

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LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis begins a five-day trip to Portugal on Wednesday for World Youth Day , the international Catholic jamboree that is expected to gather around 1 million people.

While in Portugal, Francis will visit the place from where 15th- and 16th-century Portuguese explorers set sail on world-changing voyages to Africa, Asia and South America, a church and monastery that are unique architectural gems, and one of the world’s most popular Catholic shrines where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to children.

Here’s a look at where Francis will go.

BELEM NATIONAL PALACE

The official reception is at the Palácio Nacional de Belém, which is the Portuguese president’s residence, also known as the pink palace.

It sits beside the Tagus River in the neighborhood of Belem, which in Portuguese means Bethlehem. It was from here that Portugal’s maritime explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries, such as Vasco da Gama , set sail.

The cross and the crown went together on those journeys, though in March the Vatican formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery — the theories backed by 15th-century “papal bulls” that legitimized Portugal and Spain’s colonial-era conquests and seizures of land.

BELEM CULTURAL CENTER

The Centro Cultural de Belem was built as the base for Portugal’s first ever presidency, in 1992, of what is now called the European Union.

The pink-and-white stone-trimmed building now houses the Atlantic port’s Contemporary Art Museum and concert halls.

Francis meets here Wednesday with Lisbon’s diplomatic corps, local officials and members of civil society.

JERONIMOS CHURCH AND MONASTERY

The pontiff will be at evening prayers at the Jeronimos Church and Monastery later Wednesday at what arguably is Portugal’s greatest monument. Its construction began in 1501 as King Manuel I’s biggest prestige project.

The site is now one of Lisbon’s signature buildings and one of the city's architectural gems.

Formerly a quaint fishing village, with narrow streets in its center, Cascais is now a flourishing tourist town with sought-after beaches and is one of Portugal’s wealthiest areas.

Francis travels to Cascais, which is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of Lisbon, along the Atlantic coast, to the town on Thursday to visit a branch of Scholas Occurrentes, a youth foundation he launched.

PRACA DO IMPERIO

The broad, gardened Empire Square with its large fountain in Belem was built as part of the 1940 Exhibition of the Portuguese World, an event put on by dictator Antonio Salazar’s government to showcase the empire.

In May, the Vatican recalled a postage stamp promoting World Youth Day following complaints that it celebrated Portugal’s colonial rule and the dictatorship. It featured Francis leading a group of children up Lisbon’s Monument to the Discoveries across the road, which also started out as an exhibit.

The pope will hear confessions in the square on Friday.

SERAFINA NEIGHBORHOOD

The pope will visit Serafina's community center on Friday. It was a troubled district of the capital at the end of the last century, dogged by drug and crime problems.

But the community center run by Rev. Francisco Crespo has helped it put that past behind it. The neighborhood sits beneath Lisbon’s giant 18th-century aqueduct, an emphatic reminder of the bounty that gold from its Brazilian colony afforded Portugal.

PARQUE EDUARDO VII

Central Lisbon’s largest park, Parque Eduardo VII, rises to a ridge offering a view to the Tagus River over downtown Lisbon. It was named in 1903 for King Edward VII of Britain, who had visited Lisbon the previous year. The pontiff will be there for a reception on Thursday and presides over the Way of the Cross procession on Friday.

The shrine in the rural Portuguese town of Fatima, which is one of the Catholic Church’s most popular pilgrimage destinations, became famous after three local children reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary above a tree there in 1917.

The sanctuary can hold hundreds of thousands of people.

Francis travels to the town about 120 kilometers (about 70 miles) north of Lisbon by helicopter on Saturday.

PARQUE DO TEJO

The Parque do Tejo is in one of Lisbon’s newest residential areas, which grew out of the 1998 Lisbon World Fair. That event swept aside Lisbon’s rusting eastern industrial area.

Francis will hold a vigil with thousands of young people at the park on Saturday evening and will celebrate Mass at the site on Sunday morning.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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More details announced for Pope’s Portugal visit

By TPN/Lusa, in Portugal · 27 Feb 2022, 12:07 · 0 Comments

Pope Francis has already expressed his intention to travel to Fátima during his stay in Portugal, but Duarte Ricciardi, executive secretary of the Local Organising Committee of the World Youth Day Lisbon 2023 (WYD Lisbon 2023) says he is officially unaware of any other papal initiative outside the World Youth Day.

“We do not have any information directly from the organisation, nor about other trips of the Pope during that time [when he is in Portugal], nor responsibility. In other words, our responsibility is on World Youth Day. We don't even know if the Pope, in fact, goes to Fátima, if he goes before the Jy, if he goes after, if he goes in the middle”.

Large numbers of people are expected to come out to see the Pope while he is in Portugal for WYD.

“This Pope is very universal and everyone will really want to see him and be able to be there. Events with the Pope are open. We have an organisation, obviously there is a flow of entries, but anyone who wants to see the Pope can come to the venue and see the Pope. This is what is planned, that all people who want to participate can participate”, says Duarte Ricciardi.

Initially scheduled for the summer of 2022, the initiative was postponed a year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The first edition took place in 1986, in Rome, and since then WYD has passed through Buenos Aires (Argentina, 1987), Santiago de Compostela (Spain, 1989), Czestochowa (Poland, 1991), Denver (United States, 1993), Manila (Philippines, 1995), Paris (France, 1997), Rome (Italy, 2000), Toronto (Canada, 2002), Cologne (Germany, 2005), Sydney (Australia, 2008), Madrid (Spain, 2011), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil, 2013), Krakow (Poland, 2016) and Panama City (Panama, 2019).

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Pope Francis visits Venice in first trip outside of Rome in seven months

April 28, 2024 / 3:18 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Pope Francis made his first trip out of Rome in seven months on Sunday with a visit to Venice that included an art exhibition, a stop at a prison and a Mass.

Venice has always been a place of contrasts, of breathtaking beauty and devastating fragility, where history, religion, art and nature have collided over the centuries to produce an otherworldly gem of a city. But even for a place that prides itself on its culture of unusual encounters, Francis' visit on Sunday stood out.

Francis traveled to the lagoon city to visit the Holy See's pavilion at the Biennale contemporary art show and meet with the people who created it. But because the Vatican decided to mount its exhibit in Venice's women's prison, and invited inmates to collaborate with the artists, the whole project assumed a far more complex meaning, touching on Francis' belief in the power of art to uplift and unite, and of the need to give hope and solidarity to society's most marginalized.

His trip began at the courtyard of the Giudecca prison, where he met with women inmates one by one.

"Paradoxically, a stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," Francis told them.

The 87-year-old pontiff then met with Biennale artists in the prison chapel, decorated with an installation by Brazilian visual artist Sonia Gomes of objects dangling from the ceiling, meant to draw the viewer's gaze upward.

The Vatican exhibit has turned the Giudecca prison, a former convent for reformed prostitutes, into one of the must-see attractions of this year's Biennale, even though to see it visitors must reserve in advance and go through a security check. It has become an unusual art world darling that greets visitors at the entrance with Maurizio Cattelan's wall mural of  two giant filthy feet , a work that recalls Caravaggio's dirty feet or the feet that Francis washes each year in a Holy Thursday ritual that he routinely performs on prisoners.

The exhibit also includes a short film starring the inmates and Zoe Saldana, and prints in the prison coffee shop by onetime Catholic nun and American social activist Corita Kent.

Francis' dizzying morning visit, which ended with Mass in St. Mark's Square, represented an increasingly rare outing for the 87-year-old pontiff, who has been hobbled by health and mobility problems that have ruled out any foreign trips so far this year.

"Venice, which has always been a place of encounter and cultural exchange, is called to be a sign of beauty available to all," Francis said. "Starting with the least, a sign of fraternity and care for our common home."

During an encounter with young people at the iconic Santa Maria della Salute basilica, Francis acknowledged the miracle that is Venice, admiring its "enchanting beauty" and tradition as a place of East-West encounter, but warning that it is increasingly vulnerable to climate change and depopulation.

"Venice is at one with the waters upon which it sits," Francis said. "Without the care and safeguarding of this natural environment, it might even cease to exist."

in the exhibit as tour guides and as protagonists in some of the artworks.

Ahead of his trip, Francis sat down with "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell during an hourlong interview at the guest house where he lives in Rome. 

During the interview, Francis pleaded for peace worldwide amid the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza .

"Please. Countries at war, all of them, stop the war. Look to negotiate. Look for peace," said the pope, speaking through a translator.

He also had a message for those who do not see a place for themselves in the Catholic Church anymore. 

"I would say that there is always a place, always. If in this parish the priest doesn't seem welcoming, I understand, but go and look elsewhere, there is always a place," he said. "Do not run away from the Church. The Church is very big. It's more than a temple ... you shouldn't run away from her."

The pope's Venice trip was the first of four planned inside Italy in the next three months, Reuters reported. He is scheduled to visit Verona in May and Trieste in July, and is expected to attend the June summit of Group of Seven (G7) leaders in Bari.

In September, he is also set to embark on the longest foreign trip of his papacy, traveling to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

An extended version of O'Donnell's interview with Pope Francis will air on "60 Minutes" on Sunday, May 19 at 7 p.m. ET. On Monday, May 20, CBS will broadcast an hourlong primetime special dedicated to the papal interview at 10 p.m. ET on the CBS Television Network and streaming on  Paramount+ . Additionally, CBS News and Stations will carry O'Donnell's interview across platforms. 

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• Catholic Church

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Pope makes landmark visit to Venice Biennale and proclaims that ‘the world needs artists’

Pope Francis has become the first pontiff to visit Venice’s contemporary art festival during a trip which saw him visit a female prison and rehabilitate the reputation of a pioneering American nun artist.

The 87-year-old Pope traveled to the northeastern Italian city by helicopter on April 28, touching down at the prison on Giudecca Island in the Venetian lagoon which has been taken over by the Holy See for the eight-month-long biennale.

Curated by Chiara Parisi and Bruno Racine, the pavilion — titled “Con i miei occhi” (which translates as “With my eyes”) — reflects the Pope’s concern for society’s outsiders, especially prisoners, and includes works from several female artists. Francis began his Venice trip by greeting each of the approximately 80 inmates in the prison courtyard, several of whom are involved in the exhibition.

Poetry from some inmates has been placed on the walls of the prison, while others act in a short film by Italian director Marco Perego and his wife, actor Zoe Saldaña, a star of the “Avatar” films. (Saldana plays a prisoner on the day of her release alongside other inmates.)

“Paradoxically, a stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new…as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting,” Francis told them. “Let us not forget that we all have mistakes to be forgiven for and wounds to be healed — me too.”

Afterwards, in the prison chapel, the Pope met artists involved in the biennale and the Holy See pavilion, where he told them their work can help tackle racism, xenophobia, ecological “imbalance,” “fear of the poor” and inequality.

“The world needs artists,” he stressed.

His meeting with them also marked a rehabilitation for Corita Kent, known as the “ pop art nun ,” whose works are included in the Holy See pavilion but who in the past faced resistance from a powerful cardinal. During his speech, the pope singled out Kent – along with Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois — as female artists whose works have “something important to teach us.”

Kent, a religious sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary community in Los Angeles who later left the order, was renowned for her colorful screen-prints which raised awareness of racial injustice and championed civil rights. But in the late 1950s and 60s, her progressive religious order clashed with the then Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles, James McIntyre, who took a particular dislike to some of Kent’s art, calling it  blasphemous .

Although he has struggled with bouts of ill health in recent months, Francis seemed animated and engaged while in Venice on a trip that lasted just five hours and was jam-packed with events. At one point, he joked with a local journalist about the weather and said that  every time he goes to a prison  he asks:  “why them and not me?”

Francis traveled around Venice on a motorboat, an open-air golf buggy with the Holy See coat of arms emblazoned on it and his wheelchair, something which he is increasingly using due to mobility difficulties.

Along with the trip to the female prison, Francis also held a meeting with young people, presided at an open-air Mass in St. Mark’s Square, led the Sunday midday prayer, and prayed in front of the relics of Saint Mark in the basilica.

During his homily, he warned against the threats Venice faces including from climate change, saying that rising sea levels mean the city “may cease to exist” and talked about the need for “adequate tourism management.” His visit comes just days after  Venice began charging day-trippers an entry fee.

The Vatican first entered a pavilion for the biennale in 2013, but this is the first time it has shown at a prison. The 2024 pavilion was commissioned by its culture office, which is led by the Portuguese prelate, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, an award-winning poet. The cardinal explained that the pavilion is an attempt to involve visitors  “directly in reality.”

As it is a working prison, those who visit the Holy See pavilion have to hand in their cell phones, while the façade of the building is covered with a mural of the soles of two dirty feet by Maurizio Cattelan , who is known for his sculpture of Pope John Paul II being hit by a meteorite.

The Venice Biennale was first held in 1895 and takes place every other year, with each country having their own pavilion (the Vatican is the world’s smallest sovereign territory). For 2024, it has taken the theme “Foreigners Everywhere” and seeks to highlight artists from marginalized backgrounds.

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Pope visits Venice to speak to artists and inmates and finds city taxing day-trippers

Pope Francis has met with women prisoners in Venice who are the protagonists of the Vatican pavilion at the Venice Biennale art fair

VENICE, Italy -- Venice has always been a place of contrasts, of breathtaking beauty and devastating fragility, where history, religion, art and nature have collided over the centuries to produce an otherworldly gem of a city. But even for a place that prides itself on its culture of unusual encounters, Pope Francis ’ visit Sunday stood out.

Francis traveled to the lagoon city to visit the Holy See’s pavilion at the Biennale contemporary art show and meet with the people who created it. But because the Vatican decided to mount its exhibit in Venice’s women’s prison, and invited inmates to collaborate with the artists, the whole project assumed a far more complex meaning, touching on Francis’ belief in the power of art to uplift and unite, and of the need to give hope and solidarity to society’s most marginalized.

Francis hit on both messages during his visit, which began in the courtyard of the Giudecca prison where he met with the women inmates one by one. As some of them wept, Francis urged them to use their time in prison as a chance for “moral and material rebirth."

“Paradoxically, a stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute,” Francis said.

Francis then met with Biennale artists in the prison chapel, decorated with an installation by Brazilian visual artist Sonia Gomes of objects dangling from the ceiling, meant to draw the viewer’s gaze upward. He urged the artists to embrace the Biennale’s theme this year “Strangers Everywhere,” to show solidarity with all those on the margins.

The Vatican exhibit has turned the Giudecca prison, a former convent for reformed prostitutes, into one of the must-see attractions of this year’s Biennale, even though to see it visitors must reserve in advance and go through a security check. It has become an unusual art world darling that greets visitors at the entrance with Maurizio Cattelan’s wall mural of two giant filthy feet, a work that recalls Caravaggio’s dirty feet or the feet that Francis washes each year in a Holy Thursday ritual that he routinely performs on prisoners.

The exhibit also includes a short film starring the inmates and Zoe Saldana, and prints in the prison coffee shop by onetime Catholic nun and American social activist Corita Kent.

Francis’ dizzying morning visit, which ended with Mass in St. Mark's Square, represented an increasingly rare outing for the 87-year-old pontiff, who has been hobbled by health and mobility problems that have ruled out any foreign trips so far this year.

And Venice, with its 121 islands and 436 bridges, isn't an easy place to negotiate. But Francis pulled it off, arriving by helicopter from Rome, crossing the Giudecca Canal in a water taxi and then arriving in St. Mark's Square in a mini popemobile that traversed the Grand Canal via a pontoon bridge erected for the occasion.

During an encounter with young people at the iconic Santa Maria della Salute basilica, Francis acknowledged the miracle that is Venice, admiring its “enchanting beaty” and tradition as a place of East-West encounter, but warning that it is increasingly vulnerable to climate change and depopulation.

“Venice is at one with the waters upon which it sits,” Francis said. “Without the care and safeguarding of this natural environment , it might even cease to exist.”

Venice, sinking under rising sea levels and weighed down by the impact of overtourism, is in the opening days of an experiment to try to limit the sort of day trips that Francis undertook Sunday.

Venetian authorities last week launched a pilot program to charge day-trippers 5 euros ($5.35) apiece on peak travel days. The aim is to encourage them to stay longer or come at off-peak times, to cut down on crowds and make the city more livable for its dwindling number of residents.

For Venice’s Catholic patriarch, Archbishop Francesco Moraglia, the new tax program is a worthwhile experiment, a potential necessary evil to try to preserve Venice as a livable city for visitors and residents alike.

Moraglia said Francis’ visit — the first by a pope to the Biennale — was a welcome boost, especially for the women of the Giudecca prison who participated in the exhibit as tour guides and as protagonists in some of the artworks.

He acknowledged that Venice over the centuries has had a long, complicated, love-hate relationship with the papacy, despite its central importance to Christianity.

The relics of St. Mark — the top aide to St. Peter, the first pope — are held here in the basilica, which is one of the most important and spectacular in all of Christendom. Several popes have hailed from Venice — in the past century alone three pontiffs were elected after being Venice patriarchs. And Venice hosted the last conclave held outside the Vatican: the 1799-1800 vote that elected Pope Paul VII.

But for centuries before that, relations between the independent Venetian Republic and the Papal States were anything but cordial as the two sides dueled over control of the church. Popes in Rome issued interdicts against Venice that essentially excommunicated the entire territory. Venice flexed its muscles back by expelling entire religious orders, including Francis’ own Jesuits.

“It’s a history of contrasts because they were two competitors for so many centuries,” said Giovanni Maria Vian, a church historian and retired editor of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano whose family hails from Venice. “The papacy wanted to control everything, and Venice jealously guarded its independence.”

Moraglia said that troubled history is long past and that Venice was welcoming Francis with open arms and gratitude, in keeping with its history as a bridge between cultures.

“The history of Venice, the DNA of Venice — beyond the language of beauty and culture that unifies — there's this historic character that says that Venice has always been a place of encounter," he said.

Francis said as much as he closed out Mass in St. Mark's before an estimated 10,500 people.

“Venice, which has always been a place of encounter and cultural exchange, is called to be a sign of beauty available to all," Francis said. "Starting with the least, a sign of fraternity and care for our common home.”

Winfield reported from Rome. Associated Press writer Colleen Barry contributed.

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Inside look at Pope Francis' visit to Venice from St. Mark's Square

With a message of hope and faith, this fifth Sunday of Easter, Pope Francis has left Italy's iconic canal-filled city of Venice, after an intense morning, that marked his first pastoral visit, and travel outside of Rome, since the start of the year. This day trip represents the first of others in Italy in the months to come, and falls before his whirlwind four-country Apostolic Visit to Asia and Oceania in September.

At the Holy Father's Mass in St. Mark's Square, the Holy Father offered comforting words to the faithful, telling them to remain in the Lord, clarifying that this does not mean staying still, but rather, letting the Lord's love and closeness empower us.

During his subsequent Regina Coeli address, before he privately venerated the relics of St. Mark, whose feast day was 25 April, inside St. Mark's Basilica, the Holy Father made heartfelt appeals for peace and an end to the suffering around the world, especially in Haiti, Ukraine, and the Holy Land.

First Pope to visit Venice Art Biennial

The Pope had arrived by helicopter, early this morning, in the women's prison on the Giudecca island to visit the Holy See Pavilion of the world-renowned Venice Art Biennial, a major international contemporary art exhibition. This year, the Biennial, which began in 1895, marks its 60th edition.

Pope Francis' visit also marked the first time a Pope has ever visited the event.

With the title ' With my eyes', the Pavilion, designed to remember in a special way human rights and the marginalized, was commissioned by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See, and curated by Chiara Paris and Bruno Racine. The Pavilion is housed inside the prison facility, the same prison where Pope St. John Paul II celebrated Mass when he visited Venice in 1985.

Encounters of joy and emotion

Upon Pope Francis' arrival to the prison, he held a moving encounter with detainees, which follows less than a month with his having washed the feet of women prisoners on Holy Thursday at the Rebbibia prison in Rome.

The Pope told the prisoners to always look to the future, to have hope, and that nothing can rob that hope. He also warmly urged them, smiling, to pray for him, before gifting them an icon of the Blessed Mother, reminding them of the exemplary, maternal tenderness of Mary. It was a very emotional encounter, bringing tears to the eyes of many.

Thereafter, Pope Francis met with artists associated with the pavilion, among others, in the prison chapel. After being welcomed by Cardinal Mendonça, he encouraged them in their creativity, as he had done a year ago when addressing artists in the Sistine Chapel.

This visit will be remembered as well for its images. It was quite a scene to see the Pope's transport by patrol boat across the canal during his time in the lagoon city, to the Basilica of Maria della Salute, for the meeting with young people. We even saw him humbly pass through the vaporetto stop, which is the ordinary transit stop for tourists.

There, he encouraged young people from Venice and Veneto to remember how precious they are to God, saying that even when they may feel they do not measure up, that they should try to see themselves as God sees them.

Across the canal

From there, to reach St. Mark's Square, for the day's culminating events, Pope Francis boarded his popemobile across a provisional bridge created upon boats that connected the area of the Santa Maria della Salute to St. Mark's Square. 

In the midst of all this, from what had been somewhat dreary, grey weather, the Holy Father, in time for the Mass, seemed to bring, with him, the sun.

While all this happened in very few hours, the impact and moments of Pope Francis' visit to Venice, surely, will never be forgotten.

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Pope Francis may visit United States in September after UN invitation

By Andrea Gagliarducci

Rome Newsroom, Apr 25, 2024 / 07:22 am

Pope Francis is reportedly considering returning to the United States in September to speak before the United Nations General Assembly.

The news was initially reported by the French Catholic newspaper La Croix and has not yet been officially confirmed by the Vatican. A source from the Vatican Secretariat of State, meanwhile, told CNA this week that “a formal invitation has arrived from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and Pope Francis seems inclined to respond positively.”

If the New York trip occurs, the pope would visit the United Nations during its “Summit of the Future,” which the international body will convene from Sept. 22–23.

The possible trip to the United States could change the pope’s already-busy September travel schedule. The Holy See Press Office has announced that Pope Francis will be in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, and Singapore from Sept. 2–13.

Pope Francis is also expected at the end of September in Belgium, where he is scheduled to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the University of Louvain, which has been divided into two different linguistic entities since the 1960s. The Holy Father told Mexican television network Televisa last December that he intended to travel to Belgium in 2024.

According to a source familiar with the planning of papal trips, Pope Francis’ trip to Louvain could be postponed to 2025. The postponement of the journey would leave room at the end of September for the visit to the United Nations.

During his planned stay in Belgium, Pope Francis will also celebrate Mass at the national shrine of Koelkenberg. There are also rumors that the pontiff will stop in Luxembourg, one of the small nations favored by the pope for trips to Europe. Luxembourg officials have denied the visit, but the Vatican Secretariat of State has indicated the trip is possible.

The September summit’s objective is to strengthen the structures of the United Nations and global “governance” to face more fully the “new and old challenges” of the coming years, the U.N. has said. 

The meeting will lead a “pact for the future” to advance rapidly toward realizing the U.N.’s “sustainable development goals.”

In a meeting with students in April, Pope Francis described the summit as “an important event,” with the Holy Father urging students to help ensure the plan “becomes concrete and is implemented through processes and actions for change.”

Pope Francis, who is 87, has undergone two surgeries in the last four years and is under regular medical screening. A planned trip to Abu Dhabi to participate in the COP28 meeting was canceled last December due to health reasons. 

The pope was last in the United States in 2015, during which he also appeared before the United Nations.

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