Am beginning to fall in-love with this pope as I did with Pope John Paul II – Pope holds final Mass in Rio, Brazil with three Million people in attendance. Great scene, beautiful.

Pope Francis has completed a historic trip to his home continent by celebrating mass to three million people on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach.

The colossal crowds cheered the first Latin American pope in a remarkable response to his message that the Catholic Church must shake itself up and get out into the streets to find the faithful.

Nuns mixed with bikini-clad young women as nearly the entire 2.5-mile crescent of Copacabana’s broad beach in Rio overflowed with people, some of them taking an early morning dip in the Atlantic and others tossing flags and football shirts into the pontiff’s open-sided car as he drove by.

More pic after the cut

 Even the animals came... A stray dog walks down the stairs of the altar as Pope Francis (not seen) celebrates his final mass on Copacabana Beach

 A faithful continent: Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, left, Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez, centre, and Bolivia's President Evo Morales, attend the Mass on Copacabana beach