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SYDNEY: Pope Benedict XVI will spend holiday at a
secret location in Australia before World Youth Day in Sydney in
July, event organizers said Friday.
Sydney Archbishop George Pell
said the Pope would arrive in Australia on July 13 and leave on July
21, taking three days vacation before attending World Youth Day.
Event organizers said the
81-year-old pontiff “has decided to spend several days preparing
for his encounter with young people” following the lengthy flight
to Australia from Rome.
“The trip to Australia will be
the longest journey the Holy Father has ever undertaken,” World
Youth Day coordinator Anthony Fisher said, adding organizers had
selected a holiday destination for the Pope that was “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,” Fisher
said. “We cannot, of course, disclose the location; he is a head
of state seeking private time and has asked that that privacy be
respected.”
The pope will be officially
welcomed to Sydney in a harbor side ceremony on July 17.
Organizers have said they expect
World Youth Day to attract some 125,000 international visitors to
Australia’s largest city.
The trip has sparked complaints
over the costs involved after it was revealed that taxpayers would
contribute 86 million Australian dollars ($80.4 million) toward the
event.
New South Wales state Premier
Morris Iemma defended spending taxpayers’ money, saying it would
showcase Sydney to a global audience while generating $150 million
in revenue.
Catholics make up about a quarter
of Australia’s population of some 21 million people.
The first World Youth Day was
held in Rome in 1986 and is now held in an international host city
every two to three years. The last was in Cologne, Germany, in 2005.
--AFP
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