VENICE: Pope Francis presided over mass in St. Mark's Square in Venice on Sunday while warning of environmental damage and over-tourism, in a closely watched visit marking the ageing pontiff's first outside Rome since last year.
Fragile health has prevented the 87-year-old leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics from travelling in recent months, his last trip being a visit to the French city of Marseille in September.
But under sunny skies on Sunday, the pope appeared in high spirits as he addressed more than 10,000 faithful seated in the vast St. Mark's Square, following an earlier visit to a women's prison, and an address to young Venetians.
Citing the "enchanting beauty" of Venice, Francis listed the many dangers facing it -- climate change, mass tourism and "frayed social relations, individualism and loneliness".
"Venice is one with the waters upon which it sits. Without the care and safeguarding of this natural environment, it might even cease to exist," said the pope in his homily.
Venice, he said, "which has always been a place of encounter and cultural exchange, is called to be a sign of beauty available to all, starting with the last, a sign of fraternity and care for our common home." The pope's visit came on the same weekend as Venice launched a new five-euro entry fee for day-trippers, aimed at easing the pressure of tourism on the UNESCO World Heritage site.
Earlier on Sunday, Francis arrived by helicopter to the island of Giudecca, which houses a women's prison.
Greeting one by one the approximately 80 inmates, as well as staff and volunteers, the pope encouraged the women to reconstruct their lives "brick upon brick, together, with determination" during their time behind bars, while calling on administrators to offer reintegration programmes.
"Prison is a harsh reality, and problems such as overcrowding, the lack of facilities and resources, and episodes of violence, give rise to a great deal of suffering there," he said, sitting in front of the prisoners. "But it can also become a place of moral and material rebirth," he added.
The visit by Francis is the fourth papal visit to Venice, after those of Paul VI (1972), Jean-Paul II (1985) and Benedict XVI (2011). — AFP
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