Pope tells bishops to get out of their churches

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Pope Francis is challenging bishops from around the world to get out of their churches and preach, and to have the courage to go to the farthest margins of society to find the faithful.

Francis celebrated Mass on Saturday in Rio’s massive, beehive-like cathedral along with an estimated 1,000 bishops. His message echoed what he has been telling pilgrims at World Youth Day all week: Go out of your churches to the peripheries and spread the faith to society’s outcasts.

Francis faces a busy Saturday: After Mass, he goes to Rio’s municipal theater to meet Brazilian politicians, businessmen, intellectuals and the diplomatic community. Afterward, he lunches with the region’s bishops and then presides over an evening vigil on Copacabana beach.

He returns to Rome on Sunday after the final Mass.