July 26, 2013: On day five of his apostolic journey to Brazil for World Youth Day,
Pope Francis was driven to Rio de Janeiro’s Quinta da Boa Vista park, which also houses
the city’s zoo and National Museum of Natural History, to hear the confessions of
a group of young people. The park, whose name literally means “farm or park of the
beautiful panorama” was once owned by the Jesuits (XVI-XVII c.) before the Company
of Jesus was expelled from colonial Brazil. World Youth Day organizers have set
up a massive area in the park with individual, white confessionals so that young people
from every nationality can privately receive the sacrament of reconciliation from
a priest speaking their own languages. Pope Francis is hearing the confessions
of five young people, speaking Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Afterwards, the
Pope will go to the Archdiocesan Headquarters of Rio de Janeiro where he will meet
privately with a group of prisoners and then, from the building’s central balcony,
he will recite the Angelus prayer with the faithful gathered in the square below.