Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jul 27, 2013 / 18:50 pm
The young Brazilian Felipe Passos moved the hearts of three million World Youth Day participants, including Pope Francis himself, when he told the story of how he became bound to a wheelchair and discovered "the Cross."
Felipe, 23, spoke at the World Youth Day prayer vigil July 27 at Copacabana Beach.
He told how at the end of the past World Youth Day, held in Madrid in 2011, he made two spiritual promises. He promised to stay chaste until marriage and to work hard so his prayer group of Ponta Grossa, in Brazil's southern state of Paraná, could participate in this year's World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.
With few resources, Felipe and his friends began saving money by working several hard jobs at the same time that they prepared themselves spiritually: praying, adoring the Blessed Sacrament, fasting and doing works of solidarity.