LISBON - Tens of thousands of faithful cheered Pope Francis as he arrived in Fatima, a globally revered shrine devoted to the Virgin Mary, during a major Catholic youth jamboree being held in Portugal.
The crowd, estimated by authorities at 200,000, gathered in the vast square of the shrine of Fatima in central Portugal and applauded as the helicopter that brought the 86-year-old pontiff from Lisbon flew overhead.
Pilgrims shrieked and waved as the pope, wearing a white cassock, slowly drove past on his pope mobile.
He paused several times to have babies brought to him and kissed them on the head.
Pope Francis will recite the rosary with sick and disabled youths at the chapel built on the spot where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three shepherd children in 1917, and deliver a speech.
Fatima draws millions of pilgrims from around the globe.
"It is important to be here to se this pope who inspires peace and tolerance," said Marta Noronha, a 36-year-old doctor who came to Fatima with her parents and her brother.
Francis will then return to Lisbon, where on Saturday evening he will lead a vigil at the waterfront Parque Tejo.
Church organisers expect one million faithful will attend the vigil at the park that has been built for the occasion on a former landfill site.