[Pope Benedict was officially greeted by the Australian government on Thursday, July 17th. Dignitaries included Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia Major General Michael Jeffery. The following is the Holy Father’s address from the welcome ceremony, held at Sydney’s Government House.] Your Excellencies, Dear Australian Friends, It is ...read more

Pope Benedict XVI will be officially arriving at WYD on Thursday, but in the meantime he’s spending a few days relaxing at an Opus Dei retreat centre northwest of Sydney. In addition to spending time praying, enjoying music, wandering the 25-acre property, and celebrating Mass, the Holy Father took the opportunity to make a few ...read more

Today there was no major papal event, so we were able to take this time and have some of the regular pilgrim experience – just participate! Catechesis sessions and the Youth Festival started today, and it’s been my most enjoyable day so far. For the catechesis sessions on the Holy Spirit, Pedro and I decided ...read more

The blog comes from Marilena Berardinelli, a young Toronto based Catholic teacher and WYD08 participant. In the year of the Jubilee Pope John Paul II called the WYD pilgrims gathered in Rome “to be the saints of the new millennium.” In the company of over 2,000,000 other pilgrims, I listened to words of the Holy ...read more

At WYD, separation from your group is either an opportunity to make new friends or a dangerous precursor to getting lost, which in turn leads to things like hunger and death. I know rationally that it’s not so perilous, but I was still hesitant to leave my S+L colleagues and venture into the unknown. They were walking twelve blocks to the “Big Aussie BBQ” ...read more

Today I went to the tomb of a saint – well, she is still “just” a blessed, but she’s the first Australian to be elevated to sainthood. She’s a hero for Australians, and she has been chosen as one of the patron saints of World Youth Day 2008. Her name is Mary MacKillop. Beatified by ...read more

Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 23. Gal. 5:16-17, 22-25; Lk. 8:4-15 We all know that Christ Our Lord is often described as the Good Shepherd of today’s responsorial psalm. We are told that he leads us near restful waters, revives our flagging spirits, enables us to rest peacefully. In developing this image on one occasion, Jesus explained ...read more

That’s how International Liturgy Group leader Eden d’Souza described participating in the WYD Opening Mass procession. Carrying the Canadian flag, I too shared the experience of walking through the gate into the roaring crowd. I can tell you that it was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life, not to mention one of ...read more

During the Eucharistic Congress this past June, I had a blog entry called “Mabuhay!”. I was writing about the day we heard from the Filipino contingent at the Congress – they were all screaming “Mabuhay!” when Bishop Tagle from the Philippines came out to give his catechesis.Well, today, I bumped into a lively contingent during ...read more

Do you know that Australia was first named the “Southern Land of the Holy Spirit”? In fact, that’s what Australia means: “Southern Land” – Austral is southern. Boreal is northern. Learn something new everyday. Is it any coincidence that the theme for this year’s international World Youth Day, hosted in Sydney, Australia is from Acts ...read more