THE Pope has urged young people to open their hearts to “new horizons and cultures”, as hundreds of thousands have converged on Portugal for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Youth Day festival.

In an opening message, Pope Francis said: “400,000 of you have already registered, thirsty for this; during this World Youth Day, learn to look always towards these horizons, always to look beyond.

“Don’t put up walls in front of your life, since walls close you in. Always look at the horizon with your eyes, but, above all, with your heart, while opening your heart to other cultures.”

The appeal was published before the 86-year-old Pope’s arrival on Tuesday at Figo Maduro airport, in Lisbon, for the 15th international World Youth Day. The six-day festival was expected to attract at least two million young people, from 184 countries, accompanied by 30 cardinals, 660 bishops and archbishops, and more than 5000 journalists.

The Pope said that the huge numbers indicated that young people had a “thirst to participate, share, and tell of their experiences”; and he expressed joy that so many “felt a need to participate”.

The Pope was expected to hold talks with the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and Prime Minister, António Costa, during his five-day visit, as well as religious leaders, volunteers, and refugees. He will travel to the Sanctuary of Fatima — where three shepherd children reported Marian apparitions in 1917 — for a peace vigil, on Saturday.

He was also expected to meet victims of clerical sex abuse, highlighted in Portugal by a independent commission report last February. The prevention of abuse was pledged as a “firm church commitment” by the Patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal Manuel Clemente, at a press conference on Monday.

Preaching on Tuesday at the opening mass in the Edward VII Park, Lisbon, Cardinal Clemente said that young people had made huge efforts to attend the World Youth Day. It will feature music, theatre, and sports events, as well as services and catechesis sessions.

He urged them to replace a world of “virtual reality” with the “true reality” of encounters with others, “safe and confident in the Christian atmosphere that you create together and in the simple gestures that you communicate with”.

The President of the Bishops’ Conference of Portugal, the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima, Mgr José Ornelas Carvalho, told journalists that Europe had sent Christian missionaries abroad for centuries, but was now itself a “continent of mission”. RC leaders counted on the young people at the World Youth Day to “return to participation in the life of the Church”, he said.

Portugal temporarily withdrew from the Schengen Agreement and reimposed frontier controls from 22 July, in expectation of a mass influx for the festival, which closes on Sunday. Organisers said that the festival would offer a unique opportunity “to bring together, in one environment of faith, dozens of different countries and cultures, thinking about the world, peace, and the future”.

Applying at ports and airports, and at 21 border crossings from neighbouring Spain, temporary measures also include no-fly zones over Lisbon and Fatima. The theme this year, from St Luke’s Gospel, is “Mary got up and left in haste.”

A special hymn, “Há Pressa no Ar” (“There’s a rush in the air”) was released in 13 languages for participants, who include a large contingent from Ukraine, as well as organised groups of tens of thousands from France, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United States.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that visitors should expect an increase in people using public transport and other facilities in the Lisbon area, as well as road closures and traffic restrictions.

A Portuguese government statement said that border checks would be “selective and targeted” to guard against “possible threats to public order and internal security”. The event has previously been held in 13 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Australia, and the Philippines, since its introduction by Pope St John Paul II in 1985.

In a message last year, looking forward to the festival, Pope Francis said that the World Youth Day would “represent a new beginning” after the “trauma of the pandemic” and “tragedy of war”, as well as crises over forced migration, poverty, violence, and climate disaster.

The Pope, who has travelled to 60 countries since his election in March 2013, said: “Young people always represent the hope for new unity within our fragmented and divided human family. Only thus will we bridge distances — between generations, social classes, ethnic, and other groups — and put an end to wars.”