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‘Catholic Woodstock’ kicks off in Lisbon ahead of Pope arrival
The world's largest Catholic gathering, a week-long religious festival known as World Youth Day, kicks off in Lisbon on Tuesday, a day before Pope Francis arrives on his first foreign trip since recent surgery. Around 300,000 people are expected to attend the opening mass at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) at the hillside Eduardo VII park, which offers sweeping views of the Portuguese capital and the Tagus river. The 86-year-old pontiff is set to arrive in Lisbon on Wednesday morning to celebrate World Youth Day, a week of religious, cultural and festive events held about every three years in a different city. He has a typically packed schedule for his five-day visit to Portugal, despite having spent nine nights in hospital after undergoing hernia surgery in June. Francis, the first Latin American pope, is due to make 11 public pronouncements and hold numerous meetings, and on Saturday will visit the shrine of Fatima north of Lisbon. Church organizers expect one million faithful will attend the event's closing mass held by the pope on Sunday at a waterside park on the outskirts of Lisbon. Images of the pope were on display on banners set up across the city as well as on screens on automatic bank machines along with the message: "I am with you". A Lisbon pastry shop is even selling cookies with the image of the smiling pontiff wearing a crucifix. "I think it is going to be amazing experience to be in the same spot as the pope," said Barbara Weisz, a 19-year-old student from the United States, part of a group of 37 youths who came from a San Diego parish. "It is a great feeling to be among so many young people who share your beliefs," she added as the group, who wore matching red t-shirts, gathered in the lobby of their hotel before going sightseeing before attending the opening mass. World Youth Day, which has been dubbed the "Catholic Woodstock", is part of the Vatican's efforts to galvanize young Catholics at a time when secularism and disgust over clerical child sex abuse cause some faithful to abandon the Church. In recent days groups of event volunteers, decked out in their distinctive yellow T-shirts, could be seen outside of churches in Lisbon to welcome pilgrims who have flocked to the city. "It is a special moment that you should experience at least once in your life," said Samuel Navarro, a 19-year-old student from Spain. - Meeting with abuse victims - Pope Francis is expected during his visit to meet privately with victims of sexual abuse by members of the Portuguese clergy. A report published in February by an independent commission found at least 4,815 children were sexually abused by clergy members -- mostly priests -- since 1950. The inquiry, based on testimony from over 500 victims, concluded that the Church hierarchy in Portugal "systematically" tried to conceal the abuse. "I know (the meeting) will take place... but I don't know where it will happen or how many people will take part," Lisbon's patriarch, Cardinal Manuel Clemente, told a news conference Monday. "There is a total commitment on the part of the Portuguese Church to settle this issue," he added. Around 16,000 members of law enforcement, civil protection and medical staff are being deployed for the pope's visit, officials said. Initially scheduled for August 2022, but postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Lisbon World Youth Day is the 16th international edition of what has become the largest gathering of Catholics worldwide. The brainchild of late Pope John Paul II, this year's event is the fourth presided over by Pope Francis, who became head of the Catholic Church in 2013. The last three events took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2013, Krakow, Poland in 2016 and Panama City, Panama in 2019. lf-tsc/ds/yad © Agence France-Presse The post ‘Catholic Woodstock’ kicks off in Lisbon ahead of Pope arrival appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Lucky to come home: Growing up trans in Brazil can be deadly
Wearing a pink dress that matches the bow in her hair, eight-year-old Agatha flashes a smile that belies all she has been through as a trans child growing up in Brazil. Agatha's mother, Thamirys Nunes, says she vividly remembers the day her daughter, then almost four, asked the question that has changed both of their lives. "Mommy, can I die today and come back tomorrow as a girl?" Nunes, 33, who lives in Sao Paulo, says she knew then they both had a hard road ahead, in a country where the discrimination and dangers facing trans people run deep. Gender dysphoria among children, a sensitive subject in many places, is especially fraught in Brazil, the deadliest country in the world for trans people. There were 118 trans people murdered in Brazil last year, 29 percent of the world total, according to the National Network of Trans People of Brazil. Polarizing politics have only made things worse, in a country where far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) made attacking "gender ideology" a central issue in elections last year, and conservative parties hold a strong majority in Congress. Nunes says she worries every time Agatha leaves the house. "I'm afraid people will call her a freak, hit her or mistreat her," she says. "I feel lucky every time she comes home." Activist mom It was not easy for her to accept Agatha for who she is, admits Nunes. "It wasn't my dream to have a little trans girl. I had lots of doubts," she says. She remembers Agatha playing with dolls and wearing earrings from the time she was small. "She had always been uncomfortable with the gender she was given at birth," she says. A psychologist told Nunes she needed to "reinforce" her child's masculine side, she says. But "trying to reaffirm her masculinity just hurt her," she told AFP. So, overcoming her own prejudices and fears of what people would think, Nunes decided to let Agatha change her name and live as a girl. It has been a transformative experience for Nunes, too. Today, she is an activist for the rights of trans children and teens. Last year, she founded an organization called My Trans Child, which has nearly 600 members. 'Abandoned to their fate' Although Bolsonaro lost last October's elections, replaced by the more tolerant administration of veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, activists say the situation for trans people remains alarming. Aline Melo, a member of Nunes's organization, says things have only gotten worse in recent years. Her son, 14-year-old Luiz Guilherme, is trans. "He's proud of who he is. But he knows he can't always be himself when he leaves the house," she says. Nunes says the lack of government protections to combat rapes and violence against trans youths is "absurd." "We want public policies to protect (this group) that is abandoned to their fate," she says. Forced to leave home Celeste Armbrust still remembers how she felt when she embraced her own gender identity, her eyes lighting up beneath her new pink bangs. "I felt like myself. I felt free," says the 17-year-old trans girl, who began hormone therapy at 16 -- the age authorized under a 2020 decision by Brazil's Federal Council of Medicine. She was brave enough to unveil her new identity at school. But she is afraid to leave the house alone. "She's fearful of being singled out and suffering for it," says her mother, Claudia Armbrust. Brazil, a sprawling country of 214 million people, has just five public centers to assist children and teens on gender identity issues. There is a long waiting list at Sao Paulo University Clinical Hospital, which is helping around 400 such minors. "We help them feel understood," says psychologist Larissa Todorov. But few in Brazil have access to such programs, which struggle with insufficient funding. Carolina Iara, 30, a trailblazing state legislator who is Brazil's first intersex lawmaker, says the country has made progress since her childhood. But not nearly enough, she adds. "There are still trans kids who get kicked out of the house at 13 and have to turn to prostitution," she says. The post Lucky to come home: Growing up trans in Brazil can be deadly appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
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