Pope Francis on Friday visited a Portuguese neighbourhood once troubled by crime and drug problems to highlight the Catholic Church’s charitable work.
The visit, coming midway through a five-day trip to the country, began with the 86-year-old pontiff hearing confessions of young people taking part in the large Catholic World Youth Day festival.
He will later preside over a Way of the Cross procession at the event, recreating Christ's crucifixion.
The Pope spoke with residents of the Serafina neighbourhood, an area dogged by social problems two decades ago that have now largely been left behind.
That was thanks in part to efforts by church charity groups, including one that was created to provide a home for children with parents unable to care for them.
Speaking off the cuff to young people and the charity organisers, Pope Francis said true service must be done with concrete gestures that make an impact. He thanked church groups that have “gotten your hands dirty, touching the reality and the misery of others”.
“There is no such thing as abstract love. It doesn’t exist,” the Pope said. He said he could not come to Lisbon to celebrate World Youth Day without visiting the centre because “this is also youth, in the sense that you generate new life continually”.
“With your conduct, your commitment and getting your hands dirty by touching the reality and misery of others, you are giving inspiration and generating life,” he said.
Pope Francis has long said that true service and charity has to hurt, and that it’s not enough just to give a beggar a coin on the street. He has championed the charitable side of the Catholic Church, including boosting the Vatican’s charitable efforts by providing showers and medical care to homeless people while also sending regular lorryloads of aid to Ukraine and other places affected by conflict or natural disasters.
The pontiff was welcomed earlier this week by hundreds of thousands of flag-waving young people from around the globe, who gave him a raucous welcome to the World Youth Day festival.
About 500,000 pilgrims attended the music-and-dance-filled World Youth Day opening ceremony in Lisbon’s Eduardo VII park on Thursday, a figure that was expected to more than double over the duration of the festival.
The Pope's visit to Portugal is aimed primarily at young people, but his message about reversing economic inequalities has found resonance among people of all ages, who lined his route and watched from hotel balconies or the street as his motorcade passed on Thursday, the first day of the festival.
He travels to the Catholic shrine in Fatima on Saturday and then celebrates an open-air vigil on Saturday and final Mass on Sunday morning.
After arriving in Lisbon on Wednesday, the Pope immediately addressed Portugal’s crisis of sexual abuse by the clergys, which intensified after a panel of experts hired by the country's bishops reported in February that priests and other church personnel may have abused at least 4,815 boys and girls since 1950.
Meeting with the bishops at Lisbon’s Jeronimos Monastery, Francis said the scandal of sexual abuse had marred the face of the Catholic Church and helped drive the faithful away. He told the bishops that abuse victims must always be welcomed and heard.
The Pope met for more than an hour that night with 13 victims at the Vatican embassy.
Wydad 2 Urawa 3
Wydad Nahiri 21’, Hajhouj 90'
Urawa Antonio 18’, 60’, Kashiwagi 26’
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
Top Hundred overseas picks
London Spirit: Kieron Pollard, Riley Meredith
Welsh Fire: Adam Zampa, David Miller, Naseem Shah
Manchester Originals: Andre Russell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Sean Abbott
Northern Superchargers: Dwayne Bravo, Wahab Riaz
Oval Invincibles: Sunil Narine, Rilee Rossouw
Trent Rockets: Colin Munro
Birmingham Phoenix: Matthew Wade, Kane Richardson
Southern Brave: Quinton de Kock
The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Amitav Ghosh, University of Chicago Press
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
World Series
Game 1: Red Sox 8, Dodgers 4
Game 2: Red Sox 4, Dodgers 2
Game 3: Saturday (UAE)
* if needed
Game 4: Sunday
Game 5: Monday
Game 6: Wednesday
Game 7: Thursday
FIXTURES (all times UAE)
Sunday
Brescia v Lazio (3.30pm)
SPAL v Verona (6pm)
Genoa v Sassuolo (9pm)
AS Roma v Torino (11.45pm)
Monday
Bologna v Fiorentina (3.30pm)
AC Milan v Sampdoria (6pm)
Juventus v Cagliari (6pm)
Atalanta v Parma (6pm)
Lecce v Udinese (9pm)
Napoli v Inter Milan (11.45pm)
RACECARD
4.30pm Jebel Jais – Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 (Turf) 1,000m
5pm: Jabel Faya – Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 (T) 1,000m
5.30pm: Al Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m
6pm: The President’s Cup Prep – Conditions (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 2,200m
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club – Prestige (PA) Dh125,000 (T) 1,600m
7pm: Al Ruwais – Group 3 (PA) Dh300,000 (T) 1,200m
7.30pm: Jebel Hafeet – Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
