Yesterday morning, Pope Francis was received by the President of the Republic, and by his wife, Lorena Castillo, in the "Palacio de las Garzas". A few minutes after his entrance to the Presidency of the Republic, the Pope went to one of the balconies of the palace and greeted the crowd that had been waiting since the early hours of the morning to greet him.
At the end of this courtesy visit, the Pope met with other authorities, the diplomatic corps and the representatives of civil society in the Bolívar Palace, a building emblematic of the Old City, where the Congress of Panama was held in 1826, presided over by the famous Latin American patriot Simón Bolívar.
The Pope then went to the church of "San Francesco d'Assisi" to meet with the bishops. Upon his arrival, the Pope was received by the archbishop of Panama, Msgr. José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta, and by the President of the Episcopal Secretariat of Central America (SEDAC), Msgr. José Luis Escobar Alas, who welcomed the pontiff. The Holy Father read a message to the bishops. His Holiness's meeting with the Central American bishops ended with a fraternal greeting and official photos.
Finally, the Pope met the many youths gathered at the welcoming ceremony dedicated to him in the Santa Maria de la Antigua-Cinta Costera camp, with 350,000 participants, according to Panamanian authorities. Once again, the Pope changed the protocol, arriving with the open Pope-mobile, instead of the closed one, initially planned.
After receiving a greeting from Msgr. Ulloa Mendieta, the Pope said to the young crowd: "You teach us that to meet each other does not mean to camouflage oneself, or to think in all the same way ... No, that's not it. The culture of the encounter is a call and an invitation to keep alive a common dream ... Everyone will go back home with that new energy that is generated every time we meet.
