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SYDNEY: The biggest Mass held in Australia will officially launch
World Youth Day events on Tuesday, with 150,000 Catholic pilgrims
expected to attend, organizers said.
The Mass at Sydney Harbour will be celebrated by
the leader of Australia’s Catholics, Cardinal George Pell, and
attended by 26 cardinals, 400 bishops and 3,000 to 4,000 priests,
said spokesman Bishop Anthony Fisher.
“That will make it the biggest Mass we’ve
ever celebrated in Australia, the grandest Mass in Australia,”
Fisher said.
The record will not last long, however, with
500,000 people expected to attend the closing Mass on Sunday, led by
Pope Benedict XVI.
More than 100,000 foreign pilgrims from around
the world are in Sydney for the six-day event, along with a similar
number of young Australians who have registered their participation.
World Youth Day, a celebration of the Catholic
faith aimed at rejuvenating the church, has been held in a different
host city around the world every two or three years since 1986.
The Pope flew into Sydney on Sunday, but is
resting and recovering from jet-lag at a semirural Catholic retreat
on the outskirts of the city ahead of his formal arrival by
“boat-a-cade” in the harbour on Thursday.
Fisher said the Pope was recovering well after
his 20-hour flight from Rome.
“I was very impressed by his energy as we went
walking in the garden and we were having trouble keeping up with
him, and he’s 81, but very fit,” Fisher told reporters.
Vatican spokesman Frederico Lombardi said the
Pope was sticking to his regular schedule during his Australian
holiday.
He begins each day by saying Mass, and on Monday
this was for about 10 people who work at the Opus Dei-run retreat
center where he is staying.
The pontiff filled his day with study, rest and
several walks around the grounds, while in the evening, a small
group of chamber musicians performed pieces by Schumann, Schubert
and Mozart, Lombardi said.
Pope Benedict has introduced a new element for
the Sydney celebration, harnessing technology to send an
inspirational mobile phone text to pilgrims each day.
The first of the texts, sent Tuesday, read:
“Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u
have within you the Fathers supreme gift: The Spirit of Jesus—BXVI.”
Pilgrims need to simply text the word Pope to a special number to
receive the messages.
-- AFP
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