Sawt Falasteen - Pope in Portugal urges Europe to act as 'peacemaker' in Ukraine

The 86-year-old pontiff was welcomed with military honours in Lisbon, where one million pilgrims from across the world are expected to take part in World Youth Day festivities.

The event -- a week of religious, cultural and festive events held about every three years in a different city -- comes as the Church reflects on its future and grapples with priest paedophilia scandals.

During the first speech of his visit, the pope said Europe should ask itself where it was heading if it is "not showing the world paths of peace, creative ways for brinning an end to the war in Ukraine'?"

"For the world needs Europe, the true Europe. It needs Europe's role as a bridge and peacemaker," he added in his address to officials and diplomats at Lisbon's riverside Belem Cultural Centre.

The pope, who is in increasingly fragile health and now uses a wheelchair or walking stick to get around, then headed to the Holy See's diplomatic mission in Lisbon where he will be staying.

Worshippers shrieked as Francis passed by in his wheelchair, reaching out to touch his white cassock and snap a photo with their cellphones.

- 'Come back rejuvenated' -

The 86-year-old pontiff underwent major abdominal surgery just two months ago, but that did not stop his 42nd trip abroad, an event-packed visit with 11 speeches and around 20 meetings scheduled.

"I will come back rejuvenated" to Rome, Francis told reporters in Italian aboard the plane.

The Argentine Jesuit, whose direct and spontaneous style has proved highly popular with young people, is expected to address youth-focused themes, from ecology and social justice to the war in Ukraine.

"He knows how to get our ear and makes us very happy," Samuel Namaver Delcif, a 17-year-old student from the United States, told AFP, adding that the first Latin American pope was able to "connect with different people".

"He likes contact, to joke... he makes a lot of soccer references, basketball references."

With under two months to go before a global gathering in Rome on the future of the Church, the festival also serves as a barometer of young Catholics' opinions on hot-button issues.

Francis has tentatively outlined potential reforms to the Church during his papacy, including on the place of LGBTQ people and women, and whether priests can marry.

The pope, who was elected by his peers in 2013, will meet with clergy on Wednesday afternoon at the vast Jeronimos Monastery which is crowned by an elaborate medley of statues.

- Meeting with abuse victims -

He may talk about the clerical child sex abuse scandal in Portugal, which was the subject of a shock report published in February by a commission of independent experts.

It found "at least" 4,815 children were sexually abused by clergy members in the country -- mostly priests -- since 1950, and the crimes were "systemically" hushed up by Portugal's church hierarchy.

According to the Portuguese Bishops' Conference and a local organising committee, Francis will meet abuse victims privately, though it has not yet been included in the official programme.

A closing mass will be held by the pope on Sunday at a waterside park on the outskirts of Lisbon.

Around 16,000 members of law enforcement, civil protection and medical staff are being deployed for the pope's visit, officials said.

World Youth Day, created in 1986 by John Paul II, is the largest Catholic gathering in the world and will feature a wide range of events, including concerts and prayer sessions.

This edition, initially scheduled for August 2022 but postponed because of the pandemic, will be the fourth for Francis after Rio de Janeiro in 2013, Krakow in 2016 and Panama in 2019.

R.Shaban--SF-PST