RIO DE JANEIRO: Hundreds of thousands of cheering people welcomed Pope Francis to Brazil on July 22 as he made the first inter-national trip of his pontificate to his native region of Latin America.
The papal plane touched down at Rio’s international airport at 3.43pm local time and the Pope emerged 18 minutes later to cheers from a small group, which included a children’s choir.
After exchanging greetings with Brazilian Pres-ident Dilma Rousseff and other dignitaries for 15 minutes, the Pope entered a compact Brazilian-made Fiat for the ride downtown, accompanied by security.
At the city’s cathedral, the Pope boarded an open popemobile. Joined by Rio’s Archbishop Orani Tem-pesta, he made a circuit of downtown streets.
Crowds contained behind police barriers cheered and waved as confetti rained down on the Pope, who occasionally stopped to kiss a baby or small child.
Brazilian Fernando Samapio brought his three children – Miguel, 6, Gabriel, 8, and Pedro, 10, to see Pope Francis and he said he would take them to World Youth Day events at Copacabana beach. The family is housing pilgrims from Croatia, France and Mexico.
Mr Samapio said Pope Francis “wants to renew the Church, and I like him because of his humility and concern for the poor”.
