UK Media Fact Sheet for World Youth Day, Sydney 2008, Australia (WYD08)   UK Contact for Media enquiries about World Youth Day: Catholic Communications Network  e: ccn@cbcew.org.uk  t: 020 7901 4800.   World Youth Day – Sydney 2008 General World Youth Day – the largest youth event in the world – will be held in Sydney from 15-20 July 2008. World Youth Day gathers young people from around the world to build bridges of friendship and hope between continents, peoples and cultures. Pope John Paul II established World Youth Day in 1986 as an annual event to reach out to the next generation of Catholics. The first World Youth Day was held in Rome.  It is celebrated every year in Rome at a Diocesan level and a major international celebration is held every 2-3 years in a different host city. Sydney will host the XXIII World Youth Day and the 10th international World Youth Day World Youth Day is an invitation from the Holy Father to all the youth of the world without discrimination.  While World Youth Day celebrates young people’s Catholic faith, its message is relevant for all people. His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will make his first visit to Australia for World Youth Day 2008.  It will be the first Papal visit to Australia since 1995. WYD will draw the largest number of international visitors to Australia for a single event and is expected to create the biggest gathering of people in the country’s history.  In size and scale WYD is a major international youth event that, on major celebration days, far exceeds an Olympic Games or Rugby World Cup for the host city.    Who’s going to WYD from England and Wales? Up to 2,000 young adults, aged 16 to 35, will travel from England and Wales to World Youth Day 2008. They will be joined by up to 20 bishops from England and Wales including Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster Diocese. The cost for each pilgrim will be around £2,000 for flight, accommodation, meals and registration.   Key Statistics Up to 225,000 registered pilgrims are expected to take part in WYD08 events each day, including 125,000 international visitors. 100,000 Australian pilgrims are expected An estimated 8,000 volunteers will assist An estimated 2,000 clergy will be present An estimated 700 Cardinals and Bishops will be present 25 million food items will need to be prepared, packaged and distributed 3.5 million meals will be served to pilgrims 2 million bread rolls will be provided 160,000 cans of baked beans will be consumed Between 3,000 – 5,000 media are expected to cover the event World Youth Day attracts pilgrims from some 200 nations 100,000 will sleep in 700 schools and parishes Up to 500,000 people are expected to attend the Final Mass at Randwick Racecourse and Centennial Park (which is open to all) The four official WYD08 languages are: English, French, Italian and Spanish Randwick Racecourse in Sydney's eastern suburbs has been selected as the site of the all-night Vigil and Final Mass to be celebrated by His Holiness. This site has been the location of three Papal Masses previously but is being extended to accommodate the largest ever crowd at a single event in Australian history. Several large video screens will be set up to enable pilgrims to take part in the Mass. Randwick Racecourse has hosted the Rolling Stones, and some scenes from the film ‘Mission Impossible II’ were filmed there. World Youth Day has proven to be the largest single, international mobilisation of young people the world has ever seen.  In the days immediately prior to the World Youth Day programme of events 50,000 young people will journey from Melbourne to Sydney, half of them probably from overseas. If they all travel by bus, separated by the regulation 150 metres, the convoy will stretch for 150 kilometres. If they edge together a bit up to nearly 100 metres apart, it will only stretch for 100 kilometres.  Perhaps the biggest peace time movement between Melbourne and Sydney.   It will be the single biggest influx of visitors onto Australian shores for a single event, likely to bring an even number than for the Sydney Olympics. And they're not coming for a rock concert, they're not coming for a sporting context, they're coming as pilgrims as people have done so for thousands of years in all the great religious traditions, that is, tourists with a religious purpose. ‘wyd2008.org’, the World Youth Day website, attracts about nine millions hits a month, 8.7 million hits in September (2007), that's 67 million hits since the site was opened. It has over 75,000 unique users each month putting it in the top 10 non-commercial websites in Australia (these wyd2008.org website statistics from October 2007, source: http://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/Archbishop/Addresses/20071010_14.shtml).   World Youth Day 08 Program of Events Tuesday 15 July Opening Mass of welcome celebrated by Cardinal George Pell and Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko of the Vatican, followed by a concert of welcome   Wednesday 16 – Friday 18 July Catechesis (teaching) sessions every morning and Youth festival events in afternoon/evening   Thursday 17 July Arrival and Welcome of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI   Friday 18 July Stations of the Cross: a re-enactment of the last moments of Jesus’ life   Saturday 19 July 1.       Pilgrimage walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Randwick Racecourse (eastern suburbs of Sydney) 2.       Evening Vigil with the Holy Father 3.       Sleep-out under the stars   Sunday 20 July Final Mass with the Holy Father at Randwick Racecourse and concluding events     Recent World Youth Days   World Youth Days draw hundreds of thousands of young Catholics together from scores of nations for a series of cultural and spiritual events, culminating in a Final Mass with the Holy Father   The most recent Final Mass attendances were: Cologne – 1.2 million (2005) Toronto – 800,000 (2002) Rome – 2 million (2000) Manila – 4 million (1995)   Patron Saints The patrons chosen for WYD08 are: Servant of God Pope John Paul II, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, Saint Faustina Kowalska, Blessed Mary McKillop, St. Peter Chanel, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Blessed Peter To Rot, St. Maria Goretti Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and the Virgin Mary under the title of "Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Help of Christians". Read more about these patrons at this news article: http://www.zenit.org/article-20915?l=English   Catholics in Australia ·         Australia has approximately 5.12 million Catholics in 1,363 parishes. This is approximately 26% of the population ·         Australia has 28 territorial Dioceses, four Dioceses of Eastern Catholic Churches and one military Diocese ·         There are around 1.5 million Catholics in the four dioceses across the greater Sydney region ·         The Archdiocese of Sydney has almost 600,000 Catholics in some 141 parishes with 480 priests   Australian Papal Visits There have been three Papal visits to Australia ·         1970: Pope Paul VI Event held in Randwick Racecourse ·         1986: Pope John Paul II Event held in Randwick Racecourse, attracting 250,000 people  ·         1995: Pope John Paul II Event held in Randwick Racecourse. Mary MacKillop is beatified

 

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