<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">A sea of 1.5 million pilgrims packed a riverside park near Lisbon on Saturday for a vigil held by Pope Francis as part of a global Catholic youth festival.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Worshippers cheered as the 86-year-old pontiff slowly drove by on his "popemobile" to the stage at the Parque Tejo on the outskirts of the Portuguese capital.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We are the pope's youths!" they chanted as national flags fluttered in the crowd estimated at around 1.5 million people according to the Vatican, citing local officials.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Argentine pope urged the crowd to "pick themselves up" whenever they suffer a setback in life.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Those who remain on the ground have retired from life, have lost their hopes and dreams," he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Drones formed the words "rise up" and "follow me" in the sky above the stage as the pope spoke.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many waited for hours under a blazing sun for the start of the vigil, singing, dancing and playing cards to pass the time at the park, which was built for the occasion on a former landfill site.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There was little shade, and worshippers protected themselves from the sun with umbrellas or makeshift tents made from sheets, or tried to cool off by pouring water over their heads.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- 'Powerful moments' -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Portugal's state weather office has put Lisbon on alert for scorching temperatures that reached nearly 36 degrees Celsius (97 Fahrenheit) on Saturday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Charlotte Bordas, a 26-year-old who came from Mont-de-Marsan in southwestern France, said she was moved to see people from around the world at the event.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We hear all languages spoken and we see the same joy on people's faces," she told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Gathering around the pope and praying together are very powerful moments that give hope and strengthen our personal faith."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The vigil is part of World Youth Day festivities, which is actually a week of religious, cultural and festive events held every three years in a different city.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Santi Salvador, a 19-year-old Spanish student, said he walked to Lisbon from Barcelona to attend the event, a distance of some 1,300 kilometres (800 miles).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We left 40 days ago... It's a pilgrimage to see the pope," he told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The leader of the world's 1.3 billion Roman Catholics will deliver a final open-air mass on Sunday morning at the Parque Tejo before returning to Rome.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many pilgrims who attended Saturday's vigil planned to sleep in the park to be there for the service.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- 'Everyone can enter' -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Earlier Saturday, Francis visited the shrine of Fatima, a revered site north of Lisbon devoted to the Virgin Mary, where he was welcomed by around 200,000 people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He recited the rosary with sick and disabled youths at the chapel built on the spot where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three shepherd children in 1917.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In an address to the crowd, the pontiff reinforced calls made many times during his trip for an inclusive Church.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This little chapel where we find ourselves, is like a beautiful image of the Church, welcoming, without doors," he said in improvised remarks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The Church does not have doors, so that everyone can enter," he added to applause from the crowd.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The pope prayed in silence for several minutes before a statue of the Virgin Mary in the chapel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a text published later on Twitter, recently rebranded as X, the pontiff said he had prayed for the "church and the world, especially for countries at war".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The pontiff, who now uses a wheelchair or walking stick to get around, arrived in Portugal on Wednesday for the World Youth Day jamboree.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">World Youth Day, created in 1986 by John Paul II, is the largest Catholic gathering in the world and features a wide range of events, including concerts and prayer sessions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This edition, initially scheduled for August 2022 but postponed because of the Covid pandemic, will be the fourth for Francis after Rio de Janeiro in 2013, Krakow in 2016 and Panama in 2019. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>