Security fears mar Pope’s visit to Brazil

There are growing security fears for Pope Francis after a pipe bomb was detonated at a site he is due to visit today and frenzied crowds of Roman Catholics mobbed the car carrying him after it took a wrong turn down a street in Rio’s centre.

Military authorities discovered a small explosive device in a parking garage bathroom at the Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil. The homemade bomb was found during a routine security sweep of the Marian shrine which Pope Francis intends to visit today.

The explosive, made with a plastic pipe wrapped in tape, was safely detonated by a police bomb squad.