Don't be 'part-time' Christians: Pope

Rio De Janeiro/London, July 28: Pope Francis, in his first ever five-day trip to Brazil after his pontification called upon the Christians not to be ‘part-time Christians’ but to lead ‘full, meaningful’ lives.

Nearly three million people had gathered at Brazil’s Copacabana Beach to hear Pope Francis address their all-night vigil. The BBC's Wyre Davies in Rio said almost every inch of the two-and-a-half mile long beach was occupied as most of the young people stayed on, pitching tents or sleeping in the open.

As the crowd grew, female activists held a demonstration nearby in support of abortion and women's rights.

The pilgrims are remaining in place for a Mass to be celebrated there by Francis later on Sunday.

The Pope, who has been attending the biggest ever Catholic World Youth Day, left Brazil on Sunday after five days - his first overseas trip as pontiff.

Addressing the youth Pope Francis on Friday exhorted them to change the world where food is discarded while millions go hungry, where racism and violence still affront human dignity and where politics is more associated with corruption than service.

Pope Francis, went to Rio's Copacabana beach to preside at a "Way of the Cross" service commemorating Jesus' final hours as part of an international jamboree of Catholic youth, known as World Youth Day.

Millions of people turned out to see the Argentine pope at the theatrical event on the crescent-shaped beachfront, giving him yet another of the frenzied welcomes that have defined his trip so far.

He ordered his open-sided popemobile to stop numerous times along his 1.8-mile (3-km) route so he could kiss babies and shake hands. He got out several times to walk along the route, making his security detail nervous again.

By the time the Pope's car had reached the stage, the back seat was filled with football shirts, flags and flowers thrown to him by adoring pilgrims lining the route.

'Overcome apathy': Speaking on a huge stage at the beach where a mock church structure was built, Pope Francis referred to the street protests which have been taking place in Brazil for more than a month.

"The young people in the street are the ones who want to be actors of change. Please don't let others be actors of change," he told the crowd at the vigil.

"Keep overcoming apathy and offering a Christian response to the social and political concerns taking place in different parts of the world."

In his address, Francis used the analogy of the suffering Jesus to ask the young people to ease the sufferings of the world. He used the theme to address issues ranging from hunger and crime to an oblique reference to the child sex abuse scandal that has roiled the Roman Catholic Church in recent years.

Pope Francis spoke of "the silence of the victims of violence, those who can no longer cry out, especially the innocent and the defenseless."

He said Jesus was united with families whose children were victims of violence and drug addiction.

"Jesus is united with every person who suffers from hunger in a world where tons of food are thrown out each day ... with those who are persecuted for their religion, for their beliefs or simply for the color of their skin," he said.

In a reference to the sex abuse scandal, he spoke of "young people who have lost faith in the Church, or even in God because of the counter-witness of Christians and ministers of the gospel."

Since his election in March, the pope has taken strong stands in defense of the environment and has several times said that financial speculation and corruption were keeping millions of people in hunger.

"So many young people who have lost faith in political institutions, because they see in them only selfishness and corruption," Pope Francis said.

Suffering: Last month, Brazil, Latin America's largest nation, was rocked by massive protests against corruption, the misuse of public money and the high cost of living. Most of the protesters were young.

"The suffering of Christ is keenly felt here," the pope said, asking the young people to step outside of themselves and not wash their hands of society's many problems like Pontius Pilate washed his hands of Jesus' fate in the gospel.

It was the second time in as many days that the pope urged young people to exploit their drive and energy to change things.

During a visit to a Rio slum on Thursday, he urged them to not lose trust and not allow their hopes to be extinguished. Many young people in Brazil saw this as his support for peaceful demonstrations to bring about change.

At the slum, he issued the first social manifesto of his young pontificate, saying that the world's rich must do much more to wipe out vast inequalities between the haves and the have-nots.

The first Latin American pope is clearly relishing the enthusiasm at a time when the Church, which once was an unrivalled religious bastion on the continent, is grappling to hold onto faithful.

On Friday, he took on the role of a simple priest and heard confessions of young people. Later, he visited the archbishop's residence, where he again showed his personal touch by lunching with youth and meeting juvenile inmates.

After four straight days of rain and unseasonable cold, the sun returned to Rio on Friday and the long evening service that included dramatic re-enactments of Jesus' final hours was held under stars instead of clouds.

But the change in the weather came too late. The rain forced organizers to move this weekend's two final gatherings to Copacabana from a pasture on the outskirts of the city because it had become a vast field of mud.

The final, climatic event of World Youth Day is Sunday, when Francis presides at a closing Mass before returning to Rome that evening.

Earlier on Saturday, the Pope addressed civil leaders and government officials at Rio's Municipal Theatre.

"Between selfish indifference and violent protest, there is always another possible option: that of dialogue," he said, in a reference to demonstrations that have been rocking the country since June.

"A country grows when constructive dialogue occurs between its many rich cultural components: popular culture, university culture, youth culture, artistic and technological culture, economic culture, family culture and media culture."

In the past three decades, the Catholic church has lost millions of followers to smaller Christian denominations.

'Go to the favelas': Also on Saturday, the Pope repeated his challenge to fellow Roman Catholic clerics to take to the streets.

In a speech to 1,000 bishops and clerics in Rio's cathedral, he said they should go to the favelas - Brazil's shanty towns.
"We cannot keep ourselves shut up in parishes, in our communities, when so many people are waiting for the Gospel," he told the audience.