From Brazil-When Pope Benedict said Mass in São Paulo during a trip to Brazil in 2007, towers of speakers carried his halting Portuguese across acres of empty green space at the Campo de Marte Airport.
Organizers had greatly overestimated the enthusiasm among local Catholics for Benedict, who drew lackluster crowds during his five-day visit, the echoing speakers at the airport seemingly symbolizing a church that had lost touch with its flock in the world's most populous Catholic country.
But six years later Brazil is falling in love with a new pontiff, the rapturous welcome given to Pope Francis since his arrival on Monday a stark contrast to the one received by his immediate predecessor and recalling the heady, emotional days of John Paul II’s first visit here in 1980.
Even the miserable winter conditions did not deter hundreds of thousands of worshipers standing for hours in the rain to listen to Francis say mass at the country’s national shrine in Aparecida on Wednesday, an encouraging sign for organizers of World Youth Day (in reality a week-long celebration) whose events in Rio de Janeiro are threatened by inclement weather.
More here-
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/brazil/130724/pope-francis-brazil-world-youth-day-church
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