Pope ends Portugal trip with open-air Mass to 1.5 million

Pope Francis presides over a Mass celebrating the 37th World Youth Day at the Parque Tejo in Lisbon (Francisco Seco/AP)

Pope Francis has wrapped up his five-day trip to Portugal with an open-air Mass for an estimated 1.5 million people who camped overnight on a vast field in Lisbon to attend the grand finale of the World Youth Day festival.

The sun rose over the River Tagus, waking up pilgrims who slept on mats, cots and the bare ground to be in place for Francis’s Mass, scheduled for early to avoid midday temperatures that are expected to hit 40C. Starting at dawn, a priest-DJ started spinning thumping reggae and Christian hymns from the sound system.