More than 2.5 million pilgrims celebrate mass with Pope Francis at ‘Catholic Woodstock’

The medieval centre of Krakow has been overrun all week by flag-waving groups from China to Samoa and Mexico



PUBLISHED: Sunday, 31 July, 2016, 5:31pm
Agence France-Presse

Pope Francis celebrated mass on Sunday with over 2.5 million pilgrims in a vast sun-drenched field, wrapping up a emotionally charged trip to Poland which took him to Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.

High-spirited teenagers, scouts, priests and families had camped under the stars in the vast “Campus Misericordiae” (Field of Mercy) near the city of Krakow ahead of the final mass of a week-long Catholic festival.

Francis whipped out technology metaphors for today’s chat and app-happy pilgrims, telling them to “download the best link of all, that of a heart which sees and transmits goodness without growing weary”.

He said they should be dreamers who believe “in a new humanity”, one that “rejects hatred between peoples” and “refuses to see borders and barriers”. They should use the gospel, he said, as their GPS.

http://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1997339/more-25-million-pilgrims-celebrate-mass-pope-francis-catholic