TRANSCRIPT
Pope Francis departed from a Lisbon airbase on Sunday after attending World Youth Day celebrations in Portugal.
Before returning to Rome, the pontiff delivered his closing mass and also attended an event to thank an estimated 30,000 volunteers at the World Youth Day festival.
Addressing the sea of volunteers gathered in the 40 degree heat, Francis spoke of waves and surfers
"As many of us know, up north from Lisbon there is a place, Nazare, where one can see waves that go up to 30 metres high and are a world attraction, especially for the surfers who challenge them. These days you also have faced a true wave, not of water but of young people like yourselves, young people who swept this city, but with the help of God, with great generosity and support for each other you challenged this big wave. You challenged this big wave, you are brave, look, you are brave, thank you. I want to tell you to continue like this in the waves of love, of charity - be surfers of love, surfers for love."
He told the faithful, the Catholic Church needs them; and he urged them to follow their dreams.
"As young people, you want to change the world and work for justice and peace. You devote all your energy and creativity to this, yet it still seems insufficient. Yet the Church and the world need you, the young, as much as the earth needs rain. Dear young people, who are the present and the future of our world, to all of you he (Jesus) says: 'Do not be afraid!'"
Francis also expressed his sadness over the war in Ukraine.
“ Thinking of this continent, I feel great sorrow for beloved Ukraine, which continues to suffer greatly. Dear friends, allow me, as an older person, to share with you young people a dream that I carry within me: it is the dream of peace, the dream of young people praying for peace, living in peace and building a peaceful future.”
The Pope's trip comes at a delicate moment for the Catholic Church in Portugal.
An independent commission set up by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference to examine abuse in recent decades, reported back earlier this year in February.
It found at least 4,815 children had been abused in Portugal and that the Church had sought "systematically" to conceal the issue.
On Wednesday, Francis met with survivors of clergy sexual abuse after criticising members of the country’s Catholic hierarchy for their response to the long-ignored scandal.
About 1.5 million youths camped overnight to attend an open-air Mass to hear the Pope officially end the five-day event.
Twenty-three-year-old Ruben Marques was among them.
“A lot of people here. It’s good to see that the church can gather all of these people together for one thing, that is Jesus Christ.”
At the end of the Mass, the Pope announced that the next World Youth Day would be held in Seoul, South Korea in 2027.
Hearing the announcement was 33-year-old South Korean man Jonghchan Chan.
"I feel like 50-50, I’m very happy, but a little bit worried. We have to welcome all other people and the young generation, but with the weather and this kind of event it will be a bit worrying but we're going to make it.”
Pope Francis visited South Korea in 2014, in what was the first trip to Asia by a pontiff in 15 years.
The country is one of Roman Catholicism's few strongholds in Asia.
About 11 percent of South Korea's population of 52 million people are Catholic.
South Korean priest 30-year-old Jae hwan Park says he is excited.
“It's unbelievable that I heard the Pope say that the next WYD is in Korea, it's amazing.”
During the Pope's visit, LGBTIQ+ Catholics took to the streets of Lisbon in support of Pope Francis.
Sam Barnes is from the group DignityUSA, representing Catholic members of the LGLBTIQ+ community.
"It has been going really well. We have had many people come up to us and tell us that they are very grateful to see us here. To see that you can be LGBTQ+, you can be an ally and you can also be Catholic at the same time. We've only had a couple negative experiences and those have been very minor."
On the plane returning to Rome, Francis responded to a reporter's question asking how he reconciled his remarks about the Church's openness to everyone when women are not allowed to become priests and same-sex marriage is not recognised by the Church.
He says the Church has a duty to accompany individuals on a personal path of spirituality - but within the framework of its rules.
World Youth Day was created in 1986 by John Paul II as a way of galvanise young Catholics at a time when secularism and priest abuse scandals was resulting in people turning away from the Church.
