With Modesty, Pope Francis Begins a Week in Brazil
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Version 0 of 1. RIO DE JANEIRO — Pope Francis arrived in Brazil on Monday for his first international trip as pontiff, treading carefully and in ascetic style in a nation where antigovernment protests have recently shaken a privileged political hierarchy, which faces withering criticism in the streets over claims of incompetence and abuse of power. “Let me knock gently at this door,” the Argentine-born pope, 76, said in a brief address delivered entirely in Portuguese to his hosts, including President Dilma Rousseff and Sérgio Cabral, the governor of Rio de Janeiro. “I ask permission to come in and spend this week with you.” Francis sidestepped the issue of Brazil’s protests in his first public remarks here, emphasizing instead the importance of youth evangelization. His weeklong trip was organized around World Youth Day, an international conference of Catholic youth, but it also signaled the importance of Brazil and the rest of Latin America to the Roman Catholic Church. While Brazil still has more Catholics than any other nation — an estimated 123 million — rising secularism and the fast-growing Protestant churches have challenged centuries of Catholic supremacy in Latin America’s largest country. Only 65 percent of the Brazilian population now identifies itself as Catholic, down from 92 percent in 1970. Surprising some here not accustomed to his avoidance of conspicuous trappings of power, Francis made his way from the international airport to downtown Rio in a modest motorcade, riding in a compact Fiat car with the window open. People crowded around the vehicle, extending their arms in the pope’s direction while taking pictures of him on their cellphones. For some who traveled to Rio to get close to the pope, the proximity and lack of pageantry offered yet another example of a Jesuit pontiff who has eschewed the red shoes, elaborate headgear and luxurious papal apartments of his predecessors. “People needed to see a pope that was humble and out in the world,” said Emanuel Soltero, 40, who produces a children’s television program in Puerto Rico. Mr. Soltero traveled with his wife and two sons to see Francis here in Rio, where they are staying in a public school with other Catholics in Jardim América, a blue-collar neighborhood near several favelas, or slums. Still, Brazilian television commentators expressed alarm at the images of the mob scene that unfolded around the pope’s Fiat at one point on a thoroughfare crowded with buses. The authorities faulted the pope’s own driver, saying he made a mistake by taking a wrong turn onto a prominent avenue. Concerns emerged on Monday in connection with the security preparations for the visit. The police said they had discovered a homemade explosive device in the bathroom of a parking garage at a shrine that Francis was scheduled to visit this week in the city of Aparecida. The authorities in São Paulo, the state where it was found, said they had exploded the device, which they described as having “little potential harm.” Protesters also gathered in the area around Guanabara Palace, where Francis delivered his brief remarks. While some demonstrators expressed anger over the use of public money to receive the pope, many others directed their ire specifically at Mr. Cabral, Rio’s governor, who is facing criticism over corruption allegations and violent police crackdowns on protesters. The police used water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators near Mr. Cabral’s palace on Monday night after some protesters hurled rocks and bottles in the direction of security forces. The violence followed Francis’ address and a speech by Ms. Rousseff, in which she warmly welcomed the pope and said that they shared an objective of diminishing poverty and income inequality. Many Catholics gathering here expressed the hope that Francis could help to alleviate tension on Brazil’s streets and beyond. “What I want is for our pope to tell all people to have faith and tell people to be friends,” said Eric Kamanal, 48, who came here with a church group from Ivory Coast. “The pope cannot resolve the problems of society, but he can illuminate the right path.” <NYT_AUTHOR_ID> <p>Taylor Barnes contributed reporting. |