“I look forward joyfully to this coming July in Rio de Janeiro! I will see you in that great city in Brazil!” said the Pope during his Palm Sunday homily. Palm Sunday has been World Youth Day for 28 years.

“Prepare well in your communities — prepare spiritually above all — so that our gathering in Rio may be a sign of faith for the whole world,” he said.

In an unscripted move, the Pope also called out: “Young persons, you must tell the world that it’s good to follow Jesus, that it’s good to go with Jesus. Jesus’ message is good. It’s good to go outside ourselves to the ends of the Earth and of existence to bring Jesus! Three words: Joy, Cross, and Youth.”

A few days earlier, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Pope Francis told her he intended to visit Brazil’s National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the Pope and Rousseff spent 15 minutes speaking alone March 20 before the dozen members of her delegation joined them.

Pope Francis gave the president a copy of Latin Ameri can bishops’ 2007 Aparecida document, which was drafted during a meeting at the Marian shrine, Lombardi said.

“Invitations (to visit) came from practically every delegation” of government representatives attending Pope Francis’ inauguration March 19, he said. More than 130 countries sent delegates.

Asked by the Argentine press to comment on the fact that Pope Francis had broadcast a message to people in his hometown before his inauguration, Rousseff said jokingly, “Look, the Pope is Argentine, but God is Brazilian.”

(With files from the Vatican Information Service)