Pope recalls youths killed in stampede

"I would like to include a particular remembrance at this Mass for the two young people who lost their lives while entering the Coqueiros Stadium," he said at the start of a huge open-air Mass in the Angolan capital on the penultimate day of his African trip.

"We trust that Jesus will embrace them in his kingdom. I express my solidarity to their families and friends and my deep pain because this happened while they were coming to see me," he said.

Two teenage girls were killed in a stampede to enter the stadium in central Luanda several hours before the pope presided at a youth rally attended by more than 30,000 people on Saturday.

There were conflicting reports on the number of injured. The Vatican said it had been told that up to 40 people were injured.

Sunday is the pope's last full day in Angola. After the Mass, attended by a crowd a police spokesman estimated at about a million people, he was due to visit a centre that promotes women's rights.

He returns to Rome on Monday, ending the trip that also took him to Cameroon.

(Reporting by Henrique Almeida)