The mob scene witnessed as Pope Francis arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Monday took place because his driver made a wrong turn, church and Brazilian authorities said. 
 
 In this image from video, a crowd mobs the silver Fiat carrying Pope Francis, center, through Rio de Janeiro on Monday, July 22, 2013. Ecstatic believers forced the closed Fiat to stop several times as... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this image from video, a crowd mobs the silver Fiat carrying Pope Francis through Rio de Janeiro on Monday, July 22, 2013. Ecstatic believers forced the closed Fiat to stop several times as they swarmed... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this image from video, a crowd mobs the silver Fiat carrying Pope Francis through Rio de Janeiro on Monday, July 22, 2013. Ecstatic believers forced the closed Fiat to stop several times as they swarmed... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this image from video, a crowd mobs the silver Fiat carrying Pope Francis through Rio de Janeiro on Monday, July 22, 2013. Ecstatic believers forced the closed Fiat to stop several times as they swarmed... (Associated Press) 
 
 Rio Transportation Secretary Carlos Osorio said the Fiat that Francis was riding in from the airport to the city center inadvertently turned into the wrong side of a 12-lane thoroughfare, known as Avenida Presidente Vargas. 
 
 Instead of taking the left lanes that were free of traffic, the car turned into the right lanes cluttered with buses and taxis, forcing the pontiff's car to stop, he said. 
 
 Thousands of faithful who lined the streets then rushed the car, reaching into the pope's open window, many taking photos of him with their phones. 
 
 The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, acknowledged that the pope's motorcade took a wrong turn but he said the pope was never concerned for his safety, even if his secretary who was sitting with him in the car was. 
 
 "His secretary was afraid, but the pope was happy, with his hand out the window waving," Lombardi said. 
 
 He minimized the concerns, saying the mob scenes were merely an expression of the "enthusiasm" of the crowds. 
 
 "There are no concerns for security. The concerns are that the enthusiasm is so great that it's difficult to respond to so much enthusiasm for the pope. But there is no fear and no concern," Lombardi told reporters. 
 
 The wrong turn taken by the pope's driver and ensuing mob scene didn't explain, however, the clear lack of security later as Francis rode in his open-air vehicle that was also surrounded by screaming faithful. 
 
 Lombardi acknowledge there might have been some "errors" that need correcting. 
 
 "This is something new, maybe also a lesson for the coming days," he said. 
 
 Oswaldo Chaves, a 40-year-old Catholic who saw the papal motorcade, dismissed concerns about the pontiff's security and how the scene might be viewed outside Brazil. 
 
 "That was only the happiness of the people, the affection of the people for the pope," he said. "Any criticism would be wickedness against Brazilians." ||||| Crowds meet Pope Francis at Copacabana beach event 
 
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 Pope Francis has visited Copacabana beach, in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, to hold the greeting ceremony for World Youth Day. 
 
 After arriving by helicopter, the pope drove along the 4km of the beach, stopping many times to greet the crowd. 
 
 An estimated 1 million pilgrims attended the event, following a papal visit to a shanty town, or favela. 
 
 Meanwhile, bad weather has forced this weekend's events to be moved from a drenched farm on the outskirts of Rio. 
 
 A site set up at a farm on the western outskirts of the city for Saturday's vigil and Sunday's service, where up to 2 million people are expected, was covered with mud and puddles after two days of relentless rain. 
 
 The authorities have announced that these events will now also take place at Copacabana beach. 
 
 'Olympic delegations' 
 
 Hours before the Pope arrived at Copacabana on Thursday, young pilgrims started gathering along the beach. 
 
 "I've always heard that Cariocas (Rio-born people) did not like the cold or the rain. But you are showing your faith is stronger. Well done!" Pope Francis joked with the crowd at the start of his address. 
 
 Groups resembling Olympic delegations were holding up the flags of their countries and many were carrying the distinct World Youth Day backpacks in yellow, green or blue, the colours of the host-country's flag, the BBC's correspondent in Rio, Julia Carneiro, says. 
 
 Big screens were set up on the sand and the rain stopped before the event, our correspondent says. 
 
 On the fourth day of his visit to Brazil, the first international trip of his papacy, the head of the Roman Catholic church also addressed Argentine faithful in Rio's cathedral. 
 
 During the event, he told pilgrims to take to the streets and "stir things up". 
 
 The ceremony was held on Rio's iconic Copacabana beach Young people from around the world are attending the biennial festival The Pope joked about the challenging weather conditions But the worst of the rain held off for the welcoming event Continue reading the main story previous slide next slide 
 
 "I expect a messy World Youth Day. But I want things messy and stirred up in the congregations, I want you to take to the streets. I want the Church to take to the streets," the Argentine-born pontiff told the crowd. 
 
 Before the meeting with his fellow countrymen, Pope Francis blessed the new altar at a tiny church and hugged and kissed locals who crowded the Varginha community streets. 
 
 'Forgotten community' 
 
 Security was tight in the shanty town, which is part of the larger Manguinhos favela, one of the many hillside shanty towns which surround Rio. 
 
 Helicopters and sharpshooters were on patrol as Pope Francis visited the area while school children waved flags and held up balloons. 
 
 The excitement was palpable as he arrived and resident Antonieta de Souza Costa told Reuters news agency she thought the visit would "bring people back to the Catholic Church''. 
 
 Pope Francis requested a favela, or shanty town, be included in his schedule of visits 
 
 The Brazilian government has made the "pacification" of these communities, once a byword for poverty, crime and drugs, one of its priorities. 
 
 Heavily-armed police have moved into some of the more lawless favelas, including Varginha, to "flush out" the criminals and drug dealers who controlled large swathes of these communities. 
 
 Continue reading the main story At the scene Despite the heavy rain, the residents of the small Varginha favela were out early, with umbrellas and raincoats, anxiously waiting on the street where Pope Francis was to pass. People put up banners on their houses and gathered on rooftops for the best view. One resident set up a table with coffee and cups in front of his house hoping for the pontiff to stop by for a cafezinho. Soon after he arrived, Pope Francis jumped out of his Popemobile and walked along a corridor of outstretched arms on the street, stopping to bless children and babies with a kiss on the forehead. There was heavy police presence in and around Varginha, a recently "pacified" shanty-town, part of an area previously referred to as the Gaza Strip because of drug violence. As the Pope addressed the community from a stage set up on a muddy football pitch, the crowd cheered when he said no "pacification effort" would last if society ignored the poor and abandoned them to the margins - and appealed for the rich and the authorities to battle the inequality so evident in the city of Rio. 
 
 According to official estimates, more than 20% of the population of the city live in favelas. 
 
 The Pope, who has called for a "Church of the poor" and who during his time as Archbishop of Buenos Aires regularly visited some of the poorest areas of that city, specifically asked for a favela to be included in his schedule. 
 
 Locals say the government's policy of sending large numbers of police to the area has gone some way towards calming the area, but not enough. 
 
 "There is no state presence; our community was forgotten for a long time. I hope with the Pope's visit we can have some improvement," carpenter Paulo Lima told NBC news. 
 
 'Passing idols' 
 
 The visit comes just a day after Pope Francis said it was key to tackle the roots of drug abuse rather than consider legalising them. 
 
 At a Mass at the shrine of Aparecida, he also warned tens of thousands of faithful against the "passing idols" of money, power and pleasure. 
 
 "How many dealers of death there are that follow the logic of power and money at any cost," he told the congregation. 
 
 Leaders in Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and others have spoken for softer stances on drugs policy. In Uruguay, a project decriminalising marijuana sale is set to be voted in Congress next week.
– Pope Francis is back on his home continent for the first time this week, and what a reception he got. He landed in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro yesterday for a week of World Youth Day festivities to boisterous crowds, and a somewhat confused driver. The AP reports that the Fiat he was riding in from the airport took a wrong turn, missing the lanes that had been cleared for him and driving into ones packed with buses and taxis, forcing the pontiff's car to stop—at which point it was promptly rushed by thousands of people, who reached into the car's open window and snapped photos. A Vatican rep says the pope wasn't worried, and assured anyone concerned about a perceived security breach that "there are no concerns for security." Apparently not, as the pope later rode in his open-air vehicle that was also surrounded by the screaming faithful. He apparently left his bulletproof popemobile in the Vatican garage so he could better connect with people. But it hasn't been all smooth sailing thus far. NBC News reports that a crude pipe bomb was found Sunday at a shrine he is set to visit, and about 1,500 protesters burned the governor in effigy last night outside Rio's Guanabara Palace, where Francis was meeting with the president. (Experts say the ire was focused on the government, not the pope, however.) But things may be calmer today: It's a planned day of rest for the pontiff.