Watch as welcome ceremony held for Pope Francis in Lisbon park

Watch as a welcome ceremony is held for the Pope at Lisbon’s Eduardo VII Park on Thursday 3 August.

Francis arrived in Portugal yesterday for World Youth Day - an event created by the late Pope John Paul for young Catholics in their teens or early 20s.

This year’s event is the first time it has been held since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The pontiff’s five-day trip to Portugal hopes to energise young Catholics, but is taking place in the shadow of the country’s clergy sexual abuse scandal and local anger at the soaring cost of the event.

Francis said on Wednesday that the Catholic Church needs a “humble and ongoing purification” to deal with the “anguished cries” of victims of clerical sexual abuse, who he met privately on the first day of his visit.

The crisis “calls us to a humble and ongoing purification, starting with the anguished cry of the victims, who must always be accepted and listened to,” he said.