The Pope plane from Italy touched down at an air base at Galeão International Airport at 15:45 local time. He was greeted by President Dilma Rouseff, Rio state governor Sérgio Cabral and Rio mayor Eduardo Paes and other high-profile officials.
Huge crowds are expected in Rio to welcome Pope Francis, who is from Argentina and the first head of the Roman Catholic Church from Latin America.
This is the first time the event has been held in Brazil and only the second time the event has come to South America, after the WYD held in 1987 in Argentina.
Organizers say they expect up to 2.5 million pilgrims – both Brazilian and from overseas – to come to Rio for the event, numbers similar to those the city welcomes for its annual Carnival and New Year’s celebrations. Rio is hosting the 14th WYD, which was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. The festival is usually held every three years, but was brought forward so as not to clash with next year’s World Cup, which Brazil is also hosting.
During the flight, the Pope told journalists his “heart was full of joy” at the prospect of visiting Brazil for the WYD, but that he was also concerned by unemployment in the world and its effect on young people:
“The global crisis has not generated good things for young people. Last week I had a look at the percentage of young people out of world. We are running the risk of having a generation that has never had a job,” Pope Francis said.
The Pope also warned of isolating young people, saying that they must be made to feel that they belong to the “fabric of society” and that work conferred dignity. He also warned people not to reject the elderly as if they had nothing to offer society.
- Parade amid tight security
After arriving in Rio, the Pontiff headed directly to the city centre, where many roads have been blocked off, to parade in front of crowds of Catholics and well-wishers.
He is set to greet crowds from the famous “Popemobile”. However, officials have already voiced concern at the Pope’s decision to ride open-top and not to have the vehicle equipped with bullet-proof glass. Very much in keeping with the style of his papacy, which began in March, the Pope has also shunned other measures in favour of greater proximity to followers and a humbler trip.
Despite this, at least 22,000 police, troops and other staff are on duty to provide security during the event, and it is thought up to 35,000 could be drafted in if required, and a number of additional security- and intelligence-related monitoring centres have been set up.
The Vatican has voiced its confidence in Brazil’s ability to protect the pontiff during his visit – which will include events on the world-famous Copacabana Beach and a favela (shanty town). The Pope will also visit the city of Aparecida in São Paulo state.
Members of the million-strong crowds expected at the event have expressed their joy at the Pope’s arrival over the past days and weeks.
Juliana Albuquerque, 28, a Catholic from Rio who is hosting pilgrims as part of WYD, told Anadolu Agency she was “immensely happy” that Pope Francis was visiting Rio and Brazil, and that she believed the impact on the country and the world would be positive.
- Protests as Pope Francis arrives
However, before the Pope even touched Brazilian soil, protests against the Pontiff’s visit began in the Largo do Machado square in Rio’s South Zone.
Protesters criticized the “catechization” of the country’s native Indian population and demanded authorities distance themselves from the Church to ensure Brazil is a secular state.
Another protest is set to be held outside Guanabara Palace on Monday evening – the location of the first official meeting between the Pontiff and President Rousseff later on Monday. It is also where a reception for Pope Francis and 650 guests will be held, reportedly costing R$850,000 (around 380,000 USD).
A number of other protests have been planned throughout the Pope’s visit, including a “kiss-in” by LGBT activists to draw attention to gay rights and the criminal status of abortions in Brazil. The international Slutwalk movement is also holding a rally in Rio on Saturday to coincide with the Pope’s visit.
Pope Francis is arriving in Brazil just a month after mass anti-government protests saw over a million people take to the streets to voice a long list of grievances – many of them related to public services, government corruption, social injustices and public spending on major events such as the World Cup and the Olympics.
The authorities are now fearful that the Pope’s visit – and the intense media attention that will inevitably follow his every step – could create the right conditions to spark a repeat of the mass protests and social unrest seen in June.
The wearing of masks at major events, including the Opening Mass, has been banned, and police will be armed with both non-lethal and lethal weapons in all areas of the city, with the exception of the so-called Campus Fidei (Field of Faith) – the main WYD venue.
- Evangelical Churches ‘poaching’ Catholics
With a population estimated at around 200 million, Brazil is the most populous Roman Catholic country in the world, although numbers have dropped in recent years.
Only 57 percent of respondents to a recent poll on religious identity defined as Catholic, the lowest level seen in the series of surveys. The first, conducted in 1994, saw 75 percent of those taking part identifying as Catholic.
The fall in the number of Catholics has been attributed to many Catholics undergoing conversion to Evangelical Protestantism churches – which have surged in popularity in Brazil and accounted for 28 percent of respondents of the Datafolha poll, double the figure in 1994.
However, in the run-up to the event, Catholic officials denied they were worried by the reduction in the number of Catholics in Brazil or by criticisms likely to be levelled at the Church during the Pope’s visit.
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