Brazilians throng streets to greet pope

Google – AFP, Laurent Thomet (AFP), 22 july 2013

Pope Francis waits to board a plane at Rome's Fiumicino airport, on

 July 22, 2013 (AFP, Alberto Pizzoli)

RIO DE JANEIRO — Legions of pilgrims welcomed Pope Francis to Rio de Janeiro on Monday, lining the streets of the tropical city to greet Latin America's first pontiff.

Crowds cheered as the 76-year-old Argentine stepped on the tarmac of Rio's airport to be met by President Dilma Rousseff and other senior officials.

Pope Francis has come to Brazil, an emerging power with a shrinking Catholic flock, to promote his vision of a more humble church and to attend World Youth Day.

But excitement about his first overseas visit brought thousands Brazilians into the streets, singing, clapping and waving the flags of Argentina and other countries.

From the airport, Pope Francis was scheduled to head to the Cathedral of San Sebastian, where he will hop on an open-top jeep to mingle with the crowds.

Faithfuls wave a Brazilian national flag

 as they wait for Pope Francis Rio de

 Janeiro on July 22, 2013 (AFP, Gabriel

Bouys)

"We hope the pope will bring us the renewal of faith and enthusiasm," said Renzo Cicroni, a 23-year-old Argentine.

"To see all these young people together, it re-energizes us."

The pope's decision to leave behind his bulletproof "Popemobile" raised local concerns and Rio authorities have deployed 30,000 troops and police in the wake of massive protests.

In recent weeks, more than a million Brazilians have taken part in the demonstrations against the cost of public transport, corruption and the billions spent on hosting the 2014 World Cup.

The pope's message of a "poor Church for the poor," may play well in Brazil, which is now an economic powerhouse but still has millions living in shantytowns like the favelas rising on Rio's hillsides.

Speaking to reporters on the papal plane, Pope Francis warned against marginalizing the young and the elderly.

"The global crisis has brought nothing good to young people. I saw the data on youth unemployed last week. We run the risk of having a generation without work," said Francis, who carried his own luggage onto the plane, in keeping with his trademark simplicity.

He said his trip aimed in part "to encourage young people to integrate into society" and convince the world not to abandon them.

Francis also lamented "the culture of rejection" of the elderly "despite the life wisdom they give us."

The pope starts his week-long visit with talks with Rousseff at the Rio state governor's palace later Monday.

A balloon reading "I Love Pope Francis"

 is seen in Rio de Janeiro on July 22, 

2013 (AFP, Gabriel Bouys)

Atheists and the Anonymous protest group plan to demonstrate outside against the $53 million from public coffers spent on the pope's visit.

He is scheduled to rest on Tuesday and then visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida between Rio and Sao Paul on Wednesday.

A large stage with a huge cross was being built on the famed Copacabana beach, where Francis will address throngs of young Catholics on Thursday after visiting a favela.

Brazil is the world's biggest Catholic country, but its flock is shrinking as more people turn to Evangelical churches or drop out of organized religion.

More than 90 percent of Brazilians identified as Catholic in 1970, according to the census.

But a poll by Datafolha Institute showed Sunday 57 percent now call themselves Catholic, while 28 percent say they are Pentecostal or non-Pentecostal Evangelicals.

In the city of Rio, only 40 percent are Catholic while almost a quarter are "without religion," according to a separate poll in the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.