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| People greet and take pictures of Pope Francis as he visits the Varginha slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, July 25, 2013. Francis on Thursday visited one of Rio de Janeiro's shantytowns, or favelas, a place that saw such rough violence in the past that it's known by locals as the Gaza Strip. |
Pope Francis spent
Thursday morning in one of Rio de Janeiro's most violent shantytowns,
whose residents gave him a warm and happy greeting.
The
pontiff mounted an open vehicle to cruise through the narrow streets of
the Varginha slum past residents crowding the route under a sea of
umbrellas. As he is fond of doing, Francis also got down and walked into
the crowds to shake hands and talk with people.
Later
in the day, the pope headed to Rio's famed Copacabana beach, to deliver
an address to hundreds of thousands of young Roman Catholics attending
the church's World Youth Day festival.
