Pope seeks to win over Brazil's youth

SAO PAULO, May 10 (Reuters) Pope Benedict is appealing directly to Brazil's youth to follow a strict moral code in a country where the government hands out free condoms and many Roman Catholics ignore Church teachings.

His mission on a five-day trip is to reinforce the Church line on traditional family values and to turn back a tide of defections of Catholics to Protestant groups in Latin America, home to nearly half the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.

He will lead a rally of 35,000 young Brazilians today night in Sao Paulo's Pacaembu soccer stadium with a speech on the theme ''Youth - Disciple and Missionary of Jesus.'' The Pope delivered a strong anti-abortion message on Wednesday when he arrived in Brazil, the world's most populous Catholic nation, as local bishops and the health minister squabbled over the issue.

He began today with a meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose government has been criticized by Brazilian bishops for distributing millions of condoms for free in an anti-AIDS program.

The event focused on ceremony and the issues of condoms and abortion were not discussed, officials said.

Polls show many people in this country with a reputation for a lusty and liberal attitude to sex feel that the Church is out of touch with the realities of modern life and that many use birth control.

Others though support the Pope's stance.

''The Church has positions that are tough to abide by in the modern world but we have to uphold these principles,'' said Lucila Beting, a grandmother in her 60s, who was among a small crowd waiting outside the Sao Paulo state governors' palace on Thursday morning for a glimpse of the Pontiff.

''It's very hard to be a Catholic mom today and teach that you shouldn't use condoms because you shouldn't have sex. Sex is a gift from God. What we are against is promiscuity.'' Zelia Matta, standing with her three children with a bouquet of flowers she wanted to give the Pope, said she agreed with his opposition to abortion.

''As a Catholic I expect the Pope to defend the right to life,'' she said.

PERSONAL OPINION But Carlos Santos, 24, working at a bakery in another district of Sao Paulo, said that although he was Catholic ''abortion should be a personal opinion''.

The issue hit the headlines in Brazil on the eve of the Pope's visit when Lula said it was a public health concern because many women die from clandestine abortions.

Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao, who wants a plebiscite to legalize abortion, said the Church was stifling debate and in return Geraldo Majella, head of Brazil's bishops' council accused the government of promoting promiscuity.

This is the 80-year-old Pope's first visit to Latin America since he took office two years ago following the death of the revered Pope John Paul. To many Latin Americans he is an enigma, with a reputation as a conservative theologian who has spent most of his career cloistered in the Vatican.

''If it was the previous Pope, me and a lot of other people would be trying to get a glimpse of him but we are just not enthusiastic about this one,'' said Solange Menezes de Souza, 38, who owns a small food store.

Still, more than 1 million people are expected at an outdoor mass tomorrow in Sao Paulo, where he will canonize the 18th-century Friar Antonio Galvao, the first Brazilian-born saint.

Pope Benedict is due to give the keynote address on Sunday to a conference of Latin American and Caribbean bishops in the town of Aparecida where finding ways to halt the exodus from Catholicism will be a prime task.

REUTERS AK PM2255