Pope winds up World Youth Day events in Panama with giant mass

Pope Francis winds up a global gathering of young Catholics on Sunday with a giant open-air mass for hundreds of thousands of pilgrims before leaving Panama.

The pope, who on Saturday admitted the Church had been "wounded" by a deepening clergy sex abuse crisis, will celebrate the second open-air mass of his visit at a park on the outskirts of Panama City.

After mass, scheduled for early in the morning to avoid high temperatures, the 82-year-old pope will meet young people living with AIDS and HIV at the Good Samaritan home in the city.

Francis will thank hundreds of World Youth Day volunteers at a stadium in the afternoon before a farewell ceremony and a flight back to Rome.

The pope acknowledged Saturday that the Church was "wounded by sin" in a homily addressed to priests and seminarians reeling from sexual abuse scandals and coverups.

Celebrating mass at the landmark Cathedral of Santa Maria La Antigua in Panama City, Francis warned of the "weariness of hope that comes from seeing a Church wounded by sin, which has so often failed to hear all those cries."
In a swipe at US President Donald Trump's plans to build a border wall against migrants, the pope said at a giant prayer meeting on Saturday that it was "senseless" to condemn every immigrant "as a threat to society."