Pope Francis brings together two million of faithful in Copacabana

The large delegation, composed of mostly Latin American young people and among them a thousand Ecuadorians, joined Pope Francis on the emblematic beach to pray.

The Pope said that “Young people in the streets want to be protagonist of change. Please don’t let others to be protagonists of change”, in a prayer that opened the vigil of World Youth Day (WYD).

The Pope told to young people to engage in social and political issues after recent street protests took place in Brazil, many of them at sites near the religious events presided over by the Pontiff.

“Don’t expose your life, Jesus did not stay on the balcony, he got in!” Get in as Jesus did! “, he called before hundreds of thousands of young pilgrims from 170 countries.”

Pope Francis toured in an uncovered Popemobile for a third consecutive day through the 4 km Avenue that borders the sea at Copacabana.

He insisted that “Jesus offers us something bigger than the World Cup!”. “Be real athletes of Christ!”, he asked them, and urged them to be better trained “to be fit, to deal with all situations of life without fear”, in reference to The next World Cup which will be hosted by  Brazil next year.