Pope's 'Jubilee of Youth' closes with huge Mass

POPE Leo XIV presided over a final Mass in Rome for over one million young people yesterday, the culmination of a youth pilgrimage that has drawn Catholics from across the world.

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The week-long event, a highlight of the Jubilee holy year, was an enormous undertaking for the Vatican, with young pilgrims in Rome for most of the week.

On Saturday night, before a twilight vigil led by the pope, organisers had confirmed the attendance of 800000 people in the vast, open-air space on Rome’s eastern outskirts, and yesterday, the Vatican said that number had grown to one million people.

Most of those attending slept overnight in tents, sleeping bags or mats in anticipation of Sunday's Mass.