Pope Francis undertook his trip to Lisbon today to participate in the events of World Youth Day, the most massive event organized by the Catholic Church, and where hundreds of thousands of young people await him, an agenda full of events and a visit to Fatima to pray for peace in Ukraine.
The papal plane of the Ita Airways company, in which the Vatican delegation and 70 representatives of the media have traveled, took off from Rome at 8:00 a.m. local time (6:00 GMT) and landed at the Figo Seco military base at 11:00 am, where the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, was waiting for him at the foot of the stairs.
At the airport there is a brief welcome ceremony, while the official presentations will take place later in the National Palace of Belém, the current residence of the President of the Republic and where Francisco will hold a private meeting with Rebelo de Sousa.
Afterwards, the Pope will go to the Cultural Center of Belém and in front of nearly 1,000 people, including authorities, representatives of the diplomatic corps and civil society, will deliver his first speech of a more political nature in Portuguese lands, since in 2017 he traveled to Portugal, but only visited Fatima.
At the nunciature, where Francisco will reside these days, he will hold another two meetings with the president of the Portuguese Assembly, Augusto Ernesto Santos, and the prime minister, António Costa.
The day will conclude at the Jerónimos Monastery, where he will meet with members of the Portuguese church, in a meeting in which a mention is expected of the terrible data from the recently published report on the sexual abuse of minors, which speaks of 4,800 cases in the last 70 years.
Outside of the official program, a meeting between Francisco and a group of victims has been announced, about which no further details have been communicated for the moment to protect the privacy of the people who will participate.
Tomorrow, Thursday, the 86-year-old Argentine pontiff, who underwent surgery for an abdominal hernia two months ago, will begin his participation in the WYD events.
He will attend the opening ceremony, he will confess individually to a group of young people, he will preside over a Stations of the Cross that will address the problems and difficulties of young people today, he will hear stories from some of them during a vigil in the enormous space of Parque Tejo and will close the event with a mass in this same place.
This morning, before leaving for Lisbon, the Pope greeted at his residence some young people, girls and boys, who are living a period in a rehabilitation community, and therefore cannot participate in WYD. With them were three grandparents with their grandchildren.
