The mass demonstrations that convulsed Brazil in June and July 2013 are more than a raw display of people power; they confirm that we are living in a new era of digitally enhanced protest. The storyline is by now well rehearsed. What started out as a modest protest by the little-known Movimento Passe Livre (Free Fare Movement)–a group calling for free public transport over the past decade–went viral.

Should we have democracy on demand? Spain, Turkey, Brazil, Egypt have experienced forms of it. What other country might be next to feel the wrath of people power? In the past few years, TV news cameras have gone from capital to capital to film the anger of people demanding change from their governments.

The 2012 Paralympic Games in London was the largest Paralympic sports event to date, as 4,280 athletes from 166 countries competed in 20 sports categories. The participants may have been from different cultures, but they all came together for the same reason: to compete as athletes.

What’s the greatest reward for being a cultural ambassador? According to Keola Beamer, master of the Hawaiian slack key guitar, it’s that moment when you see that you’ve truly touched someone and “you see this beautiful light in them. That’s what we do it for.” Beamer, his wife, dancer and hula master Moanalani Beamer, and fellow guitarist Jeff Peterson traveled through Brazil with the American Music Abroad (AMA) program earlier this year to share the “philosophy of Aloha, a warm philosophy of embracing other people and cultures” in the world.

Pope Francis celebrated the last Mass of his trip to Brazil on Sunday before more than a million people gathered on the beach in this city, the national flags of Catholics from around the world hoisted in the air as a chorus of Brazilian priests belted out songs before the multitude. It was a vibrant display of the Vatican’s ambition of halting the losses of worshipers to evangelical churches and the rising appeal of secularism.

Although doubts about Brazil’s readiness to host next year’s World Cup have focused on renovations at 12 stadiums, some Brazil trade experts say they are more concerned about travel logistics and whether airports, mass transit systems, hotels and railroads will be up to handling the crush of visitors. “The infrastructure behind the games is what will be complicated for Brazilians and foreign tourists,” said Marcelo Rocha e Silva Zorovich, a Sao Paulo business consultant who is a visiting researcher at the University of Miami.

With all eyes on Brazil during the Pope’s visit, protests are planned in Rio throughout the week to reiterate demonstrators’ grievances, including insufficient but expensive public transportation, government spending on mega-events like the World Cup, and political corruption. A protest took place in Rio the first day of the Pope’s visit, when around 2,000 people demonstrated outside of the governor’s palace where the Pope had attended an event.

Pope Francis was greeted by enthusiastic crowds in Rio de Janeiro as he returned to his native continent for the first time as pontiff, but was involved in a security scare as his car took a wrong turn on the way from the airport. Later petrol bombs were thrown and protesters accused riot police of an unprovoked attack in clashes outside the presidential palace.