In an unprecedented move, Pope Benedict will holiday for three days in Australia before participating in World Youth Day events in Sydney, culminating in a final Mass to be celebrated by him at Randwick Racecourse.
According to Bishop Anthony Fisher OP, coordinator of WYD08, “We were asked to nominate a suitable location for his stay and have recommended somewhere serene, beautiful and suitable for the leader of the world’s Catholics. He will have the opportunity to see some of Australia’s beautiful flora and fauna.”
In reply to speculation about the identity of the place Fisher replied, “We cannot, of course, disclose the location; he is a Head of State seeking private time and has asked that his privacy be respected.”
Pope Benedict arrives in Sydney on Sunday, July 13, and will be immediately whisked away to his vacation spot. (On prior papal visits in 1970 and 1995, the pope came to the Philippines en route to Australia, but this time he will fly directly from Rome). He will be officially welcomed on the MV Sydney 2000 (Australia’s largest cruiser) heading a boatacade arriving in Barangaroo from Circular Quay at 1 pm, on Sydney Harbour on Thursday, July 17, (then moving to the official spectator position on Goat Island), remaining in the city until Sunday, where he will reside at the official residence of Cardinal George Pell, Cathedral House, behind St Mary’s Cathedral.
Since Paul VI began the tradition of pilgrim popes, after
World Youth Day, Australia will also have the distinction of having been visited by all three men (including John Paul II and Benedict XVI), along with the United States and Turkey.
This news comes on the heels of other positive developments for organizers that with 123,000+ pilgrims coming to WYD08 so far, registrations are well on track to achieving the long anticipated goal of 225,000 registered pilgrims, despite recent media reports that because of the rising Australian dollar and recent downturn in the US economy, there had been a large amount of cancellations among them.
The Top 10 countries (of over 170 participating) in order of the numbers of registration are: Australia, USA, Italy, Germany, Philippines, Spain, New Zealand, France, Canada, Poland.
Meanwhile the World Youth Day Cross and the icon of Our Lady (which has accompanied this since 2003) have been travelling throughout the nation, attracting crowds of up to thousands of people. Preparations are well in place for the activities of Days in the Diocese going from July 10-14 in a number of Australian and New Zealand cities, as a prelude to the events. Melbourne, in particular has a well organized Homestay program (of people taking in WYD pilgrims into their homes), which also is an integral part of the lodgings for visitors to Sydney, for this worldwide meeting of young Catholics.
WYD08 officially opens on Tuesday, July 15 with an opening Mass to be celebrated by Cardinal Pell, concluding with the final ceremonies at Randwick to be celebrated by Pope Benedict which is expected to attract a crowd of 500,000 people, the largest ever in Australia’s history, to which everyone is invited, not just WYD pilgrims.
This venue (most well known for horseracing) which in the past has been an important site of all papal visits to Sydney, is hosting the final two events of WYD08 on Saturday 19 July and Sunday 20 July. Those events are the Evening Vigil (Saturday) and the Final Mass (Sunday morning) – both in the presence of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. The liturgy will be preceded by the regular WYD tradition known as the “Sleepout Under the Stars.”
More than 300,000 people will be accommodated within the racecourse for the Final Mass, and a further 200,000 or more will participate from Centennial Park, to be known for the event as the Southern Cross Precinct.
Workers will install 35 large video screens, and more than 60 lighting towers, according to WYD08 Director of Event Planning and Operations, Mr Ian Steigrad. There will also be the construction of 4,000 makeshift public toilets, all part of an unprecedented logistical operation outdoing Sydney’s hosting of the Olympic Games in the year 2000.
This will also require the employment of 8,000 volunteers, with whom Pope Benedict will hold a special audience.
The state government in New South Wales has even set up a temporary statutory body known as the World Youth Day Co-Ordination Authority, which has the responsibility to administer public transport, health, safety and security during the events, requiring the assignment of 4,000 police officers, who will be stationed at different points around the city.
Prominent Australians such as fashon designer Carla Zampatti, cricketer Matthew Hayden, and former prolife Senator John Herron, have been appointed as the official WYD patrons.
Each person will receive in their WYD pack, a sim card created by Telstra (official WYD08 communications carrier), which will enable Pope Benedict each day to send text messages to pilgrims.
WYD events will include morning catecheses at 300 locations throughout the city, the Youth Festival which will include a large Vocations Expo, (New York’s Sisters of Life will be conducting a Life Expo at Darling Harbour) and the Stations of the Cross through the streets of Sydney, to be televised to a worldwide viewing audience of 1 billion persons. (SBS TV Australia well known in the country for its long commitment to multculturalism, is the host broadcaster). This will be covered by the presence in Sydney for WYD08, of 3,000 journalists and media organizations from all around the world. On the Saturday before the vigil, a 10 km Pilgrim Walk will begin from Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney, over the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge (which will be closed to traffic), to Randwick.
Readers of Inside the Vatican will be pleased to learn that preparations are also well in place for Juventutem 2008 (employing the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite), a comparatively new WYD event, which will also include performances of Gregorian chant, and the celebration of traditional vespers by Cardinal Pell, in a parish church. Bishop Basil Meeking of New Zealand (who acted the role of Leo XIII in the movie Thérèse, one of the patron saints of WYD08), will conduct a catechesis for those attending.
Pope Benedict has requested to meet disadavantaged young persons living in Sydney, and will share a meal with 12 young people, coming from the different continents. He will also hold a special Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral for invited seminarians and youth involved in various Catholic apostolates.
