World Youth Day comes to Sydney

World Youth Day 2008 (La Giornata Mondiale della Gioventù) is on across Sydney. I assumed it would only be in the center of the city, but stepping out the front door in the inner western suburbs I came across pilgrims visiting a local church and billeted at the local school. While the organizers claim this is a bigger event than the 2000 Sydney Olympics, there did not appear to be he crowds of people I saw downtown during the Olympics. There were groups with national flags out and about, the French were most noticeable, waving Tricolour and singing La Marseillaise (it is Bastille Day).

World Youth Day (WYD) is the largest youth event in the world and will be held in Sydney from Tuesday 15 to Sunday 20 July 2008.

WYD is a week-long series of events attended by the Pope and hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the globe. It has become the largest single mobilisation of young people in the world.

The week culminates in a Final Mass celebrated by the Pope on the last day (the actual World Youth Day). Typically, it is the largest event of the week and, overseas, has drawn millions of people.

From: About WYD08, 2008