Rio de Janeiro was the stage for violent protests centred at Palacio Guanabara where earlier in the day Pope Francis had been received by Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. The incidents occurred Monday night during a demonstration against Rio state governor Sergio Cabral which convened an estimated 1.500 people according to the police.
Pope Francis warned Monday that the world risks having an entire generation of jobless young people as he arrived to Brazil. The 76-year-old Argentine, speaking to journalists aboard the papal plane heading to the Catholic youth event in Rio de Janeiro, said his trip aimed in part “to encourage young people to integrate into society” and convince the world not to abandon them.
Pope Francis is due in Brazil Monday on his first foreign trip as pontiff to attend an international youth festival in the world's biggest Catholic country.
Pope Francis’s response to the challenges of the Catholic Church has been to help find “an entirely new way to interact with the world” by the manner in which he communicates, said Sao Paulo Cardinal Odilo Scherer, one of two Latin Americans named to the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization created in 2010.
FIFA has released the price list for tickets to the 2014 World Cup to be held in Brazil. Fans have until 10 October to apply and a ballot will decide which of the applications are successful.
More than one million people were murdered in Brazil between 1980 and 2011, making it the world’s seventh-most violent country, according to the Map of Violence survey. In that period the homicides soared 132% to claim 1,145,208 lives, from a rate of 11.5 murders for 100,000 inhabitants in 1980 to 27 per 100,000 in 2011.
Despite the pope is Argentine and on Monday he will be making his first pastoral trip overseas to Brazil, Argentine government strict currency controls are making it difficult for prospective pilgrims to travel. An estimated 60.000 Argentines are expected to travel to Rio do Janeiro for the grand event.
Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said that Fitch's decision to maintain the country’s debt outlook at stable was fair given Brazil robust finances and lesser debt burden.
Brazil's Catholic population has declined since 2000 while its Protestant population has grown during the past two decades, a Pew survey fund.
Pope Francis will not use bullet-proof ‘Pope-mobiles’ on his visit to Brazil next week to allow him more direct contact with crowds despite the security risks, according to a Vatican release.