Don't forget you can always see the latest videoclips on the Holy Father here:
www.radiovaticana.org/it1/videonews_ita.asp


See preceding page for multiple earlier posts on the July 19-20 WYD events.




Pope warns youth of
'spiritual desert' of materialism
By Philip Pullella and Michael Perry



SYDNEY, July 20 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, wrapping up his visit to Australia, on Sunday urged a huge crowd of young people to beware the spreading "spiritual desert" that often accompanied modern prosperity.

At the start of his last full day in the country, the Pope flew by helicopter over hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who staged an all-night vigil at a race track ahead of the outdoor papal mass which formally ended World Youth Day celebrations.

"In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair," he said in his homily.

Some 200,000 young pilgrims camped out at the race track overnight, singing into the night in temperatures that dipped to about 8 degrees Celsius and the number of the crowd swelled to more than 300,000 as local residents flocked to the track.

In a tribute to the region's native peoples, a group of dancers from South Pacific island nations danced in front of the pope in straw clothing that was in stark contrast to his traditional red and gold vestments.

But the Pope's message to the young people was very traditional: they had to avoid that "falsely conceived freedom" and look for that "underground river" of Christian values that will help them build their lives on firm foundations.

His underlying message to them over the past five days has been that they should have the courage to be Catholic and live the tenets of their religion openly and proudly.

The Catholic Church hopes World Youth Day, the brainchild of the late Pope John Paul II, will revitalize the world's young Catholics at a time when the cult of the individual and consumerism has become big distractions in their daily lives.

It has been called the Church's version of Woodstock, five days and nights of peace, love and Christianity. More than 165 concerts have been staged, from religious music to heavy metal, acid jazz, and rap, along with mass confessionals and prayer meetings.

But this World Youth Day has been somewhat overshadowed [only in the stubbornly blinkered eyes of the media!] by the issue of sexual abuse of minors by clergy.

Benedict on Saturday apologized directly for the first time for sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, but victims groups in Australia said they wanted action and not words.

The Pope, making some of his most explicit comments on the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Church in several countries, also said unequivocally that those responsible should be brought to justice.

In his homily at Sunday's concluding Mass, the Pope made an oblique reference to the scandal, saying the Church needed "renewal," but in his comments welcoming the Pope, Sydney's Cardinal George Pell was more direct.

"Too often she (the Church) is weighed down and burdened with the sins and failings of her children; too often she appears disfigured and discouraged," Pell told the Pope.

Broken Rites, which represents abuse victims in Australia, has a list of 107 convictions for church abuse, but says there could be thousands of victims as only a few cases go to court. [Since they're so gung-ho to inflate the number of victims, why don't they come out with actual cases and complaints that can be litigated!]

In Australia, home to the world's biggest gay and lesbian mardi gras, the Church's teachings often fall on deaf ears.

More than 5 million Australians describe themselves as Catholic, but less than one million attend Sunday mass and the number may have dropped to about 100,000 in the past 5 years.

Around 1,000 protesters marched in Sydney on Saturday against Church teachings on sexual morality, trying to hand out condoms to pilgrims who were marching to see the Pope. [I've read reports that said 300-500. But never mind - what's even 1000 against 250,000? and doesn't the media realize how absurd it is to give those 1000 [few of whom are actual victims but are probably mostly professional bleeding-hearts who thrive on inflaming the most negative aspects of victims' syndrome] equal billing as the WYD pilgrims?]

The 81-year-old Pope, who appears to be holding up well despite the long trip, leaves for Rome on Monday.





Pope urges youths
to spurn materialism
By KRISTEN GELINEAU



SYDNEY, Australia, July 20 (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI urged young people Sunday to reject what he said was the "spiritual desert" spreading throughout the world and to embrace Christianity to build a new age free from greed and materialism.

At a Mass before more than 200,000 young Roman Catholic pilgrims in Sydney, Benedict said "the world needs renewal" and challenged them to be the agents of change.

"In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair," the Pontiff said.

The 81-year-old Pope said it was up to a new generation of Christians to build a world in "which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished — not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed."

The aim was "a new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deadens our souls and poisons our relationships," he said.

Sunday's Mass wraps up the church's six-day World Youth Day festival in Sydney that has drawn massive crowds to Australia's largest city, and has been watched on television by a global audience estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.

The Mass, delivered at a horse racetrack filled with pilgrims who had camped out overnight, comes a day after the Pope made a forceful apology for the sexual abuse of children by Australia's Roman Catholic clergy.

The apology is part of an effort that began in the United States to publicly atone for what he called evil acts by priests.

In his apology Saturday, Benedict said: "I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured and I assure them as their pastor that I too share in their suffering," Benedict said in Sydney's St. Mary's Cathedral.

He said he wanted "to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt" and called for those responsible to be "brought to justice." The acts were "evil" and a "grave betrayal of trust," he said.

But the Pope's apology was not enough to satisfy representatives of the victims of clergy sexual abuse, who said it must be backed by Vatican orders to Australian bishops to stop what they say are efforts to hide the extent of the problem and block survivors' attempts to win compensation. [Isn't it incumbent on journalists to find out if these charges have any basis at all

Sunday's events wrap up a busy four-day schedule for Benedict in which he touched on all the major themes of his three-year-old papacy, including the need to rejuvenate what he says is a church in "crisis" in the West because people are losing their faith in God.

He also stressed the need for mankind to protect the environment and end its "insatiable consumption" of the world's resources. He continued to reach out to other faiths, telling leaders of Islam and other religions they must unite against those who were threatening the world with "sinister and indiscriminate violence."

The pope flew over the scene early Sunday in a helicopter — dubbed "the holy-copter" by bleary-eyed pilgrims below — to see the assemblage amassed on the track with a jumble of sleeping bags, backpacks and other personal items.

He later took a slow drive through the crowd, stopping once to plant a kiss on the forehead of a toddler held up to the popemobile's window. Pilgrims from more than 160 countries gave him a rock-star welcome, waving the flags of their nations, cheering and chanting: "Benedicto!, Benedicto!" — the pope's Italian name.

The pope, who was due to leave Australia for the Vatican on Monday, said the next Roman Catholic youth festival would be held in Spain in 2011.

"I look forward to seeing you again in three years' time," he said.





Next WYD to be held in Madrid
Australian Associated Press


SYDNEY, July 20 - The next World Youth Day (WYD) will be held in Madrid, Pope Benedict XVI announced today as he waved "arrivederci" to the Catholic masses in Sydney.

The 81-year-old Pontiff has officially brought the church's marquee youth event in Australia to a close, ending six days of religious and celebratory events staged across the city.

At the conclusion of the WYD Papal Mass at Randwick Racecourse, the Pope announced WYD 2011 would be hosted by Madrid, the capital of Spain.

"The time has come for me to say goodbye, or rather, to say arrivederci!" the Pope said to a crowd of several hundred thousand today.

"I thank you all for your participation in World Youth Day 2008 here in Sydney and look forward to seeing you again in three years' time.

"World Youth Day 2011 will take place in Madrid, Spain."


A Spanish delegation, strategically assigned a place next to the ceremonial platform, was ready for the announcement,
and their colleagues in the crowd alreay had a 2011 welcome banner ready!


The Spanish section of the congregation broke out in loud cheers at the announcement.

"Until then let us continue to pray for one another, and let us joyfully bear witness to Christ before the world. May God bless you all."

World Youth Day is generally hosted in Rome, but every second or third year, it is hosted by an international city.

It has previously been held in Buenos Aires (1987), Santiago de Compostela (1989), Czestochowa (1991), Denver (1993), Manila (1995), Paris (1997), Toronto (2002), Cologne (2005) and now Sydney (2008).

Don't forget you can always see the latest videoclips on the Holy Father here:
www.radiovaticana.org/it1/videonews_ita.asp


A heartfelt Thank You to the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph of Sydney for having provided up-to-the-minute, lively, informative and generally objective and fair reports [often glowing, in fact] on the papal visit and WYD. Their coverage, which had great visual flavor, was one of the unexpected pleasures of this WYD. I wasn't expecting it of any media outlet, frankly, and I am glad to be proven wrong in this case. Here is what I call their 'headline page' for the Mass today:





Pope musters the faithful
By Larissa Cummings and Justin Vallejo


July 20, 2008 12:00am


POPE Benedict XVI has presided over a massive crowd estimated at 500,000 for Final Mass, the culmination of World Youth Day celebrations.

Rising to speak, he put out a call to arms for the faithful to join the priesthood, spread the word of Jesus and convert new followers to the Catholic Church.

"I address this plea in a special way to those of you whom the Lord is calling to the priesthood and the consecrated life.

"Do not be afraid to say yes to Jesus, to find your joy in doing his will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others," he said.

"Dear young friends, the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity," he said.

"The world needs this renewal. In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading, an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair.

"How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns in a desperate search for meaning, the ulltimate meaning that only love can give?

"The church also needs this renewal, she needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity, so that she can always be young in the Spirit. The Church especially needs the gifts of young people, all young people.

The Pope also praised "this magnificent land Australia".

"Here in Australia, this great south land of the Holy Spirit, all of us have had an unforgettable experience of the Spirit's presence and power in the beauty of nature," he said.

"Here in Australia, let us thank the Lord for the gift of faith, which has come down to us like a treasure passed on from generation to generation in the communion of the Church.

"Here, in Oceania, let us give thanks in a special way for all those up the Church in these lands - witnesses like Blessed Mary MacKillop, Saint Peter Chanel, Blessed Peter To Rot."

The Pope then farewelled pilgrims, announcing that the next event will be held in Spain in 2011.

The announcement sent the Spanish contingent into a complete frenzy.

"The time has come for me to say good bye, or rather, to say arrivederci," he said.

"I thank you all for your participation in World Youth Day 2008, here in Sydney, and I look forward to seeing you again in three years' time.

"World Youth Day 2011 will take place in Madrid, Spain. Until then, let us continue to pray for one another and let us joyfully bear witness to Christ before the world. May God bless you all."




Pope declares WYD
'unforgettable experience'
Australian Associated Press
July 20, 2008 - 12:44PM


Pope Benedict XVI has declared the spirit of the Church alive and well as he celebrated the final Mass of World Youth Day in the "great south land of the Holy Spirit".

Before a vast congregation at Sydney's Randwick Racecourse, the 81-year-old pontiff said he had shared an "unforgettable experience" during his first visit to Australia.

Today is the culmination of a six-day Catholic youth event that has attracted pilgrims from more than 170 nations.

The Papal Mass was expected to draw 500,000 people to Randwick and surrounds - the largest crowd ever assembled in Australia, according to WYD organisers.

The Pontiff had a bird's eye view of the faithful when he flew over Royal Randwick Racecourse in a helicopter this morning before doing a lap of the racecourse in his Popemobile.

As the motorcade neared its end, a baby was passed to the Holy Father, who kissed and blessed the child.

The mass has incorporated aspects of the Pacific region, with young men from Fiji - in traditional dress - escorting the holy gospel to the altar.

His Holiness officiated over the sacrament of confirmation for 24 adults, two from each Australian state and the other 12 from around the world, during the mass.

"As we pray for the confirmands, let us ask that the power of the Holy Spirit will revive the grace of our own confirmation," the pontiff said.

"May he pour out his gifts in abundance on all present, on this city of Sydney, on this land of Australia and on all its people."

He said the events during World Youth Day had provided a wonderful, spiritual experience.

"Here in Australia, this 'great south land of the Holy Spirit', all of us have had an unforgettable experience of the spirit's presence and power in the beauty of nature," the Pope said in his homily.

"Our eyes have been opened to see the world around us as it truly is: 'Charged' as the poet says, 'with the grandeur of God', filled with the glory of His creative love.

"Here too, in this great assembly of young Christians from all over the world, we have had a vivid experience of the spirit's presence and power in the life of the church.

"We have seen the church for what she truly is: the body of Christ, a living community of love embracing people of every race, nation and tongue, of every time and place, in the unity born of our faith in the risen Lord."

The spiritual leader of the world's Catholics last night spent several hours with more than 235,000 pilgrims who camped out under the stars at Randwick after making 9km pilgrimage across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and through the city streets.





John Allen didn't go to Australia with the Pope and has been providing armchair commentary on WYD from the USA in his daily online column. Never as good as his onsite reporting, because he is limited to commenting on the same things that stay-at-homes like us can see and read for ourselves. Here's his take on the concluding Mass of WYD:


WYD: 'New Age' spirituality,
Benedict XVI style
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.

Posted on Jul 19, 2008 15:04pm CST.


In language that was at turns almost lyrical, Pope Benedict XVI today offered a paean to “new age” spirituality – though, to be sure, certainly not of the “tune in, turn on and drop out’ variety.

Instead, Benedict described a vision of the “new age” proclaimed by Christ, and animated by the Holy Spirit, in which:

• “Love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty”;
• “Hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships”;
• “God’s gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished – not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed.”

The Pope’s comments came in his homily for the closing Mass of World Youth Day in Australia, before an audience at Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse estimated at 400,000.

Benedict called upon the young pilgrims to be “prophets of this new age.”

The Pope wraps up his week-long visit to Australia tomorrow, meeting with donors and organizers of World Youth Day, as well as volunteers. He’ll leave Australia at 10:00 am Sydney time, arriving in Rome at 11:00 pm.

In his homily this morning, the Pope argued that the technical and material accomplishments of the modern world often have not been matched by an equivalent spiritual depth.

“In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading,” the pope said, pointing to “an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair.”

Benedict also indirectly warned against the inroads of secularism, lamenting the psychology of “a world that wants to forget God, or even rejects him in the name of a falsely-conceived freedom.”

Benedict challenged the young pilgrims gathered in Sydney not to be conditioned by that social milieu, urging them not to be afraid “to stand up for Christ, letting the truth of the Gospel permeate the way we see, think and act, as we work for the triumph of the civilization of love.” He challenged the youth not to succumb to "blind conformity to the spirit of this age."

There were reminders during the Mass that Western-style secularism is not the only threat faced by religious believers today. During the General Intercessions, a Sudanese Catholic prayed for “Christians unable to serve the Lord openly, because of political pressure, unrest, or fear.”

Sudan has been torn by religious and ethnic conflict over the last two decades, sometimes pitting a Muslim-dominated north against a Christian and animist south. Sudanese Christians have repeatedly decried what they described as a program of forced “Islamicization” by the Muslim-dominated government in the north.

It’s not just the outside world that needs a “new age,” Pope Benedict said, but also the church.

“She needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity, so that she can always be young in the Spirit,” Benedict said.

In that context, the Pope called youth to be open to the action of the Holy Spirit, and in particular to be people of prayer. He defined prayer as “pure receptivity to God’s grace, love in action, [and] communion with the Spirit who dwells within us.”

In comments directed especially at young people considering a vocation to the priesthood and religious life, Benedict urged them, “Do not be afraid to say ‘yes’ to Jesus.”

During the course of the Mass, the Pope administered the sacrament of Confirmation for 24 people from various parts of the world. The candidates were presented to the Pope just before his homily, then confirmed immediately afterwards as the rest of the congregation renewed their baptismal promises.

As he has throughout the trip, Benedict struck a brief ecological note this morning, praising the “beauty of nature” in Australia. He cited Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, identifying him as “the poet,” to the effect that the natural world is “charged with the grandeur of God.”

Benedict XVI arrived at Randwick Racecourse this morning by helicopter, flying over the site before landing nearby. More than 200,000 pilgrims had camped out overnight in anticipation of the Pope.

Benedict then moved around the racetrack in the Pope-mobile. He moved especially slowly, perhaps in part in response to complaints earlier in the week from people who lined the streets of Sydney that the Pope-mobile whizzed by so quickly that they barely caught a glimpse of Benedict.

At one point, the Pope-mobile stopped in mid-route so that a crimson-clad baby could be held up by a Vatican security official for a brief kiss from the pope, also decked up in a crimson mozzetta over his white cassock.

In the run-up to World Youth Day, the use of Randwick Racecourse had generated considerable local controversy. Protests came from Australia’s racing industry that other sites were available which would not have involved shutting down races for an entire weekend.

In the end, the federal and state governments tripled the compensation for use of the park, to almost U.S. $40 million, and the Australian Jockeys Club’s lease for the racetrack was extended by 50 years.

World Youth Day organizers described today’s closing Mass at Randwick as “the largest gathering of people in the history of Australia,” exceeding turnout even for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.





The one big miscalculation by the organizers was the turnout for the concluding Mass. Since there were at least 225,000 registered pilgrims - Australian and visiting - they figured a similar number of unregistered pilgrims, i.e., the general public - would come to the Mass. For that reason, they also made Centennial Park not far from Randwick Racecourse available as a supplementary site for the Mass.

It turns out it was not needed - only a few hundred turned up, so few that the WYD hierarchy decided it was not worth having the Pope drive through in his Popemobile - to the disappointment (and some anger) of those who were there in good faith. And aerial as well as ground shots of Randwick Racecourse showed there were many areas everywhere that could have accomodated more people.

IMHO, enough Sydneysiders were interested to watch the Papal motorcades in the city and the Stations of the Cross when they did not have to go out of their way to do it, but not enough Catholic non-pilgrims were willing to walk to Randwick for the Mass when they could well watch it in perfect comfort from their homes on TV.

Perhaps, with public transport services suspended to Randwick and car routes closed for the occasion, the Archdiocese and the parishes should have organized buses to take their parishioners to Randwick and back, as New York did when the Pope was here.






Lella on her blog carries this picture from the Daily Telegraph, but I have been checking that site often enough and cannot locate the original.



It definitely is in the style of their other 'headline pages', but the titles confuse me - '500,000 pilgrims streaming to Sydney' and 'EXODUS'. Streaming to Sydney from Randwick? And EXODUS out of Sydney?

JaniceOKraus ... don't know if you got an answer to your question, but I think the best archived video is on the WYD08 Media Page:

www.video.wyd2008.org

They have both highlights and the entire event. For the entire event videos they were smart to post the event in parts so you can pick, for instance, to view only the readings/homily if you want. The video of the Stations of the Cross is simply beautiful and of course, being able to see up close is an advantage.

Good luck ...

PapaBear - Thank you for the link. I'm just recording the encore of the Mass now. Hasn't it all been wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!
God bless our Holy Father! Now he deserves a holiday in his beloved Bressanone.

Papabear,

Thank you VERY MUCH. I'll put this URL on my list. And I'll be able to watch the Pope's Mass at Sydney Cathedral.

Janice

Don't forget you can always see the latest videoclips on the Holy Father here:
www.radiovaticana.org/it1/videonews_ita.asp


The Holy Father did have another event today - to thank all those who worked behind the scenes for this very successful WYD. And before he leaves Sydney tomorrow morning, he will similarly thank some 12,000 volunteer workers for WYD08 at the Domain, an open space near St. mary's Cathedral.



July 20, 2008

At 6:00 this evening, the Holy Father Benedict XVI met with the benefactors and organizers of the XXIII World Youth Day in Sydney at St. Mary's Cathedral House. After introductory remarks by Cardinal George Pell, the Holy Father said the following:

---

ADDRESS TO BENEFACTORS AND ORGANIZERS
OF THE XXIII WORLD YOUTH DAY IN SYDNEY


Your Eminence,
Dear Friends,

As my visit to Australia draws to a close, I would like to express my gratitude to all those who helped make this World Youth Day a success.

This evening, in a particular way, my thanks go to you, who have so generously supported this event both materially and spiritually. Cardinal Pell has alluded to the great sacrifices which you have made in organizing this wonderful day in the life of the Church.

I thank you personally, not only for those sacrifices, but even more for the confidence you have shown in our young people and your trust in God’s grace at work in their hearts.

Let us pray that the investment which so many of you have made in them will bear fruit in their own lives, for the life of Christ’s Church and for the future of our world!

In these days, through the work of the organizing committee and the cooperation of so many private individuals, businesses and corporations, and local authorities, young people from throughout the world have been given the opportunity to experience the beauty of this country and the warm hospitality of the Australian people. In return, they have enriched this land by their witness to the love of Christ and the power of his Spirit at work in the Church.

I am sure, dear friends, that your own participation in the preparations for this World Youth Day has given you a particular experience of the Holy Spirit’s power. No doubt while planning this great international gathering, and trying to face every possible eventuality, you had your moments of worry and concern, and even fear and trepidation about how things would finally turn out!

Now, in retrospect, you can see the abundant harvest which the Spirit has brought forth from your prayers, your perseverance and your hard work. How many good seeds have been sown in these short days!

Dear friends, Saint Paul, who devoted his entire life to the service of the Gospel, reminds us that "it is more blessed to give than to receive" (cf. Acts 20:35). Your generosity and sacrifice have been an essential, yet often hidden, ingredient in the success of this World Youth Day.

May the spiritual joy, the satisfaction and the fulfilment that we have all experienced in these days, be an unfailing source of blessings in your own lives. May you never doubt the truth of our Lord’s promise that, whenever we give our creativity, energy, resources, and our very selves to him, we will gain them back abundantly (cf. Mt 19:29)!

With these sentiments I express once more my heartfelt gratitude and thanks to each of you. I commend you and your families to the loving intercession of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Help of Christians, and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of strength and peace in Jesus her divine Son.

---

Don't forget, for a quick fix, you can always see the latest videoclips on the Holy Father here:
www.radiovaticana.org/it1/videonews_ita.asp



WHAT THE SUNDAY PAPERS IN ITALY
REPORTED OF WYD TODAY

July 20, 2008


Remember, in terms of the press-run deadlines of the Sunday papers in Italy, which is 8 hours behind Sydney time, the latest WYD news was the Pope's homily at St. Mary's Cathedral on Saturday morning. Also, Italian newspapers are quite old-fashioned in having multiple sub-heads in addition to the headline for a story.


Ample coverage in the major Italian newspapers today for WYD, especially highlighting the Holy Father's statements about sex offenses committed by Roman Catholic priests. [NB: Even so, the story was not Page 1 material in the MSM newspapers. It was, on Avvenire, but it's the newspaper of the Italian bishops conference.]

Avvenire devotes seven pages to its WYD reportage, with full texts of Papal discourses, commentary and news reports. The banner on Page 1 reads "The Pope urges the Church in Australia: Listen to the world, listen to your heart'. [I find it strange that the headline would attribute a phrase like 'Listen to the world' to the Successor of Peter!]

'I suffer with the victims of sexual abuse' is Libero's headline on Page 21. Subheads: The Pope in Australia. Pedophile priests must be tried. New condemnation by Benedict XVI: 'I share the pain and suffering of the victims. We must give them care and compassion'. Article by Andrea Colombo.

Il Messaggero has an article by Franca Giansoldati: 'The Pope: Pedophile priests are a shame - they should be brought to justice. In Australia, 106 convictions so far. Harsh condemnation by the Pontiff'.

Il Corriere della Sera devotes Pages 2 and 3 to Sydney. The lead article by Luigi Accattoli is titled "The Pope says: 'Pedophile priests must be brought to justice'. Benedict XVI's anathema - 'They are a shame for us'. There is a 'Dossier of abuses' on Page 3.

On La Stampa, the article on page 16 is entitled 'The Pope: Bring pedophile priests to justice'. Subheads: Benedict XVI's harsh condemnation in Sydney: They are a shame for the Church'.

La Repubblica has Marco Politi's article on Page 10: 'The Pope against pedophile priests: they are a shame, they must be brought to trial', while Orazio La Rocca has an interview with Cardinal Dsiwisz: "This concludes a process begun by John Paul II'.

Liberazione, a Communist newspaper, had nothing to say about the Pope's statement. Its WYD story was about the anti-Pope protests: 'Condoms hurled at Papaboys' [Papaboys is the contemporary Italian term for Catholic youth in general, especially those active in Church activities.]

Il Giornale has two articles by Andrea Tornielli: First- 'The Pope's anathema on pedophile priests: They must be tried'. The other - '200,000 are present at the Prayer Vigil dedicated to the Holy Spirit'. [It figures that the admirable Andrea would be the only MSM reporter to give as much importance to the spiritual aspect of WYD.]

Il Manifesto [the official Communist Party organ], has a predictably ideological approach: "The pain of the Pope. Ratzinger and the sexual abuses of Australian priests: The technique of apology as a policy of governing'.

And so does Unita, the radical newspaper: 'The Pope in Sydney: pedophile priests must be brought to justice. But he does not meet with victims' relatives.'

Don't forget you can always see the latest videoclips on the Holy Father here:
www.radiovaticana.org/it1/videonews_ita.asp

has posted its July 21 WYD articles online, among which is this commentary. It pushes all my buttons - as a journalist who respects the truth and as a certified Benaddict.

It is well-meaning but also misleading and downright wrong. It is the typical CYA approach taken by journalists who are only noticing - or acknowledging - for the first time that Benedict XVI connects with people.

And so, this article advances the erroneous impression that the Pope the world saw in Sydney this week was different from the Pope one week ago when he arrived in Australia! As if, for instance, his April trip to the United States had never happened - at which time Johnnies-come-lately to Benedict's popular appeal had also set forth the same cover-your-ass theories about him. [Most of them obviously have never paid attention to the day-to-day coverage of this Pope!]

Perhaps the worst offender is BILD's Andreas Englisch who should know better - he has published a biography of Joseph Ratzinger, who, it is clear, he admires - than to lend himself to mistaken conjectures of the kind expressed here.

Even more inexplicable, however, is how no less than Fr. Lombardi, in comments cited in this article, appears to buy into this dubious thesis himself!



Didn't notice till today that the Herald did have a 'banner' for its WYD coverage - though not exactly inspired.


From a theologian
to Pope of the people:
A Holy Father transformed

July 21, 2008

The Herald's European correspondent, who will return to Rome today on the papal flight, charts the Pope's transformative week. [What is his/her name and why does it not appear as a byline?]




World Youth Day under Sydney's limpid blue skies has opened a new chapter in the story of Pope Benedict XVI, one which seasoned Vatican observers describe as a turning point in his papacy. [No, rather, a turning-point in some journalists' view of Benedict XVI - certainly in the view of the Australian media!]

The shy professor of theology turned cardinal, chief inquisitor and keeper of the Catholic faith has shown the first glimpse of a mass communicator in the making - one whose DNA may not be infused with the star power of John Paul II but who has now, even if reluctantly, embraced the need to engage directly with his 1.2 billion global followers. [#1- As a young professor in his 20s, he was already called 'Goldmund', golden mouth, for his communicative powers! This man was packing lecture halls in German universities long before the outside world was even aware of who he is! #2- What was he doing before this week? 'Engaging indirectly' with the world's Catholic? What does he do every time he makes a public appearance and says something in public? Speak to the wind?]

"It is in Sydney that this Pope has truly learnt his job," said Andreas Englisch yesterday. Englisch, a German author, journalist and member of the Vatican press corps since 1986, has written seven books, including two on Pope John Paul II and one on Benedict XVI. [SHAME ON YOU, ENGLISCH! What do you gain by pandering to your colleagues in this way?]

"Ratzinger is a theologian. He knows his Church but he knew it through books, through his writing, from his study, but not from the people.

[WHAT ROT! You would think Joseph Ratzinger never had any contacts with ordinary Catholics. He may not have had decades of direct pastoral experience, but he was always in touch with people. He said daily Masses in parish churches of the university towns where he served, he said Mass regularly in his village church in Pentling whenever he was in residence, he was Archbishop of Munich and Freising for five years, he said weekly Mass at the German chapel in the Vatican during his quarter century at the CDF, during which time he also met every bishop who came to Rome on an ad-limina visit and talked to them about the situation in their respective local churches. He travelled a lot and visited local Churches abroad as Prefect of the CDF. How much more can a priest know about his Church? And that was before he became Pope! Would he have had the knowledge and wisdom otherwise to have generated THE RATZINGER REPORT about the state of the post-Vatican II Church back in 1994? A report so influential that it indirectly caused a special Bishops Synod to be called in 1995? How can Englisch be so untruthful?]

"In Australia, even more than in the United States, he has learnt the church from his people … they do not want to be kept at arm's length.

"In Cologne in 2006, 1.5 million people lined the Rhine to see him. He spoke only to the young people on the boat with him … there was no effort to wave, to smile, to acknowledge all those that came out to see him [That is an absolute lie, and there are thousands of photos from Cologne to show it is a lie! In fact, there was even a specific stop along the river where he addressed the crowds on the riverbank.] … There was much criticism of him, even from his bishops. Here in Sydney it has been different, completely different."

Everything else that follows is reported from that erroneous premise:

Pope Benedict, born and bred in the cold of Bavaria, seems to have thawed in Australia.

When he faced the first phalanx of television cameras and microphones on board the flight to Sydney from Rome seven days ago he looked transfixed, hesitant in demeanour and rusty in English, the language of his soon-to-be hosts in Australia.

"He was faced by a battery of cameras and lights … he is not at his best in a crowd, he looked like a deer caught in a spotlight," another veteran Vatican specialist on board the flight said. [I am guessing this refers to CNS's Cindy Wooden because her report contains the same line about the stress ball cited here subsequently. She has been based int he Vatican for years. Is it possible she has never once attended or even watched video of the Pope's audiences? 'Deer in the spotlight' is an overworked cliche that cannot be used to describe Benedict XVI after more than three years as Pope!]

"But just a few days later, if you talked to those 12 kids who had lunch with him at St Mary's, you would not know it was the same man," she said.

"He laughed, he relaxed, he played with the stress ball that one of the American kids gave him. Theatrics go against his nature, but he has learnt here to play his audience … even to punch his applause lines, to listen, to time delivery with them." [It never is an overnight process especially for inherently shy people. He has had three years to adapt himself.]

In the past seven days the Pope, a man of undisputed fierce intellect and steadfast theological position, has gradually allowed a different part of his personality to emerge. At last he has provided a glimpse of the man behind the mitre. [As if that wasn't so, the moment he stepped out on the loggia in St. Peter's on April 19, 2005! The 'man behind the miter' is the 'simple worker in the vineyard of the Lord' who kept his simple black sweater under his new Papal finery!]

At Government House, during his first official outing after resting at Kenthurst, the Pope was led through a review of the troops - an Australian protocol for a visiting head of state but one that departed entirely with papal tradition. [Then you never watched Cologne WYD. He 'reviewed the troops' with the German President when he arrived at the airport. He also reviewed a marchpast of troops at the formal White House welcome.]

It was clear from the Pope's demeanour that he was unsure of what was expected of him - even mildly embarrassed - as the navy, army and air force military bands waited at attention and he was led past each one.

"It is simply not a papal thing to do … I think it has only ever happened once or twice, usually in small African nations," said a senior Vatican reporter and veteran of 19 papal trips. [Another inattentive veteran!]

"He is never made to walk past like that … but it was obviously local tradition, and so he stopped each time, he waved; he obviously seemed to want to make a human connection."

According to his spokesman, the Jesuit priest Padre Federico Lombardi, the previous Pope, John Paul II, had come from a pastoral tradition.

"All of us see the difference in their personalities, the difference in their approach to people. You only need to watch them to see that difference.

"I think that for John Paul II this [a World Youth Day event] was a very spontaneous thing. He also had a personal past in pastoral work with youth. He used to take canoe trips, nature walks in forests with them. His gestures, his ripostes to curious questions [from youth], were all spontaneous.

"Pope Benedict XVI was a university professor. You can see that too in the way he imparts his speeches, his relationships, the way he expresses himself and so on … he has a rapport with the young but is more shaped by his students.

"I think though that he has shown a great willingness to live this new pastoral experience, which he inherited from his predecessor but which he has now infused with his own characteristics, of simplicity, of humility and availability to all."

Padre Lombardi said what was most visible in Sydney was the Pope's direct participation with young people and that he allowed himself to become involved. [Et tu, Fr. Lombardi? I can understand you were not in Cologne for WYD 2005 - where there was a similar boat ride, followed by walking down to the Cathedral hand in hand with some of the youth representatives, and a similar lunch with 12 of them; nor in Cracow in 2006 - not just with the million-strong rapturous attendance at the Blodnie field Mass, but also those nightly 'serenades' at the Archbishop's window; or in Valencia for that marvelous Family Encounter vigil (Navarro-Valls was still the Press Director then). But what about when hundreds of young Turkish Catholics 'serenaded' him in Istanbul and he asked them into the Nunciature? What about Loreto? What about his encounters with the young in St. Peter's Square? You think he did not 'allow himself to become involved' in all those episodes? What were they - 'pretend involvement' on his part?]

The changes observed in the Pope during his Australian trip are particularly significant as no cardinal of the Roman curia had ever enjoyed the celebrity status - but as an intellectual not a populist - enjoyed by Joseph Ratzinger in Europe when he was cardinal.

According to John Allen, the Pope's unauthorised biographer, the then Cardinal Ratzinger's fame "transcended the borders of Church life; [making him] a bona fide public figure with a cultural profile similar to [the conservative commentator and writer] William F. Buckley Junior's in the United States."

In his biography, which the Vatican did not receive warmly [There was no call for 'the Vatican' to 'receive' it in any way at all: it was just another book among dozens that are written about Catholic figures all the time] as it meticulously and critically analyses Joseph Ratzinger's dramatic evolution from early libertarian theologian to arch-conservative [That's taking Allen's original point of view; the 'meticulousness' was one-sided and tendentious, as even Allen himself would more or less acknowledge later] Allen points out that in German newspaper polls at the time he was cardinal, Ratzinger came in the top 30 of German's most important and powerful nationals. He was placed ahead of the then head of the German central bank and even the tennis player Steffi Graf.

Allen's final analysis rejects critics [who probably never even talked to the man but who would psychoanalyze him from their own stereotypes and self-projections!] who portray the Pope as a man driven only by fear - of losing power, of women, of sex, of modernity.

He argues that the very few people who know the man, and even those who disagree with his theological positions, describe him differently: "… He is a refined man with a lively sense of humour, not someone working out his personal pathologies through the power of his office," he writes. [So why does Allen waste ink quoting people who don't know him and yet make sweeping ex-cathedra judgments about him? Just because 'conflict makes news - and makes it intresting', never mind if the 'conflict' is entirely invented?]

When asked once, on Bavarian television, what he was afraid of, Allen writes that his quick-witted response was "I'm afraid only of the dentist".

On Sydney Harbour, during a welcome usually afforded rock stars, the Pope surprised many when he moved out of the papal entourage and ensconced himself at the front of the boat, looking as excited as the teenagers who flocked around him.

Similarly, his triumphant tournee around the racecourse at Randwick yesterday was markedly populist and warm. His security men turned a blind eye to the many babies and toddlers thrust through the open window for the Pope to kiss. [Which is an occurence repeated dozens of times whenever he makes a public appearance in the Vatican!]

The only real criticism of the week revolved around the complexity of his homily at the Saturday night vigil on the St Augustine's theology of the Holy Spirit.

Some youngsters found the teachings impenetrable, and even Padre Lombardi, in a flash of great humour, admitted that he and others who had read the homily found it difficult "on first impression". [Whereas the article writer's cited authority, John Allen, had the opposite impression when he commented on the Vigil lecture in his column! Indeed, I myself - an Holy Spirit devotee by sheer instinct from my earliest consciousness of religion - found the Holy Father's citing of Augustine on the Holy Spirit as the perfect presetnation of 'pneumatology' in a nutshell for the simple person of faith like me: the Holy Spirit as "communion, abiding love, and giving and gift".]

But that, he said, was a good measure of this Pope. "It was his choice, to choose issues that invite reflection, that require work to understand, that may need you to come back and return to them to seek clarity. There are other things that he might have said that might glean greater applause … but they would not have stimulated thought."





First the fervour, now the reckoning
by Linda Morris Religious Affairs Writer

July 21, 2008

ANALYSIS

AT THE end of yesterday's papal Mass the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, expressed the hope that the seed planted in the Great South Land would "please God, yield a hundredfold harvest". The show is over.

Now comes the hardest part for the church of Australia: capitalising on the goodwill and fervour of the event's outpouring of religiosity, and stemming the tide of Catholics leaving the church.

There will be pressure on it to justify the expense and resources spent on the festivities through tangible signs of renewal in the Church, notably more Catholics in the pews and more seminarians.

As the driving force to secure World Youth Day, Pell wanted its images of unashamed religious devotion to challenge Australian's more private "loungeroom" faith.

But there were setbacks along the way. The sex-abuse scandals that the church thought long buried proved an unwelcome distraction for the cardinal, who spent the week struggling to get beyond that dark chapter of recent Church history to focus attention on the Church's future.

An intemperate remark by the World Youth Day co-ordinator, the auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher - who complained of a few people "dwelling crankily … on old wounds" - only added to the pressure on the Church to respond.

Though pilgrim numbers at Randwick were indisputably huge, they did not meet the grandest expectations of organisers, suggesting the Church was not entirely successful in bringing to the altar Australia's large posse of lapsed Catholics.

For most Australians the Pontiff flying out today will be just another world leader exiting the stage, and life will carry on the same as ever. But the Church will hope for much more: that the Pope might have touched hearts and souls, that somewhere there are Catholics who are considering the big questions in life. Who am I? What do I believe?

Indeed, for most Sydneysiders papal moments came via their television sets. But as the long-standing Vatican correspondent John Allen has noted, the Church has long grasped that the value of World Youth Day lies in the inspiration it gives a new generation.

The staging of the Stations of the Cross on the streets of Sydney was a tour de force. The evening vigil, with its sea of winking candles and camera flashes, and yesterday's closing Mass, with its display of Catholic ritual, were cinematic, and probably the best PR the church has had in a long time. There was a stirring of pride in what it means to be Christian.

And maybe, just maybe, the Church prays, Australians witnessing these events might themselves seek out the source of the inner joy beheld in the faces of pilgrims.

As for the Government, after months of preparation it can console itself that the event went well, public transport coped without too much strain and drivers left their cars at home. Police applauded the good behaviour of pilgrims.

Some time in the days, weeks and months ahead there will be a public accounting for the $160 million World Youth Day cost the taxpayer. Naturally the Church will have thought it money and time well spent, but will the taxpayer?

At a news conference called on Saturday for the Stations of the Cross actors, a reporter asked what would happen next.

Alfio Stuto, the advertising man who played Jesus, replied: "You have to grab on for dear life. The screens may come down, but the Spirit remains."





In its coverage of yesterday's Mass, the SMH even published extracts from the Pope's homily:

The Lord's prayer:
be prophets of this new age

July 21, 2008

This is an edited extract of Pope Benedict's homily at Randwick racecourse yesterday.

---

IN EVERY age, and in every language, the church throughout the world continues to proclaim the marvels of God and to call all nations and peoples to faith, hope and new life in Christ.

In these days I, too, have come, as the successor of St Peter, to this magnificent land of Australia. I have come to confirm you, my young brothers and sisters, in your faith and to encourage you to open your hearts to the power of Christ's spirit and the richness of His gifts. I pray that this great assembly, which unites young people from every nation under heaven, will be a new Upper Room.

May the fire of God's love descend to fill your hearts, unite you ever more fully to the Lord and His church, and send you forth, a new generation of apostles, to bring the world to Christ. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. These words of the risen Lord have a special meaning for those young people who will be confirmed, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, at today's Mass.

But they are also addressed to each of us, to all those who have received the Spirit's gift of reconciliation and new life at baptism, who have welcomed Him into their hearts as their helper and guide at confirmation, and who daily grow in His gifts of grace through the Holy Eucharist.

Here in Australia, this great south land of the Holy Spirit, all of us have had an unforgettable experience of the Spirit's presence and power in the beauty of nature. Our eyes have been opened to see the world around us as it truly is: "charged", as the poet says, "with the grandeur of God", filled with the glory of His creative love. Here, too, in this great assembly of young Christians from all over the world, we have had a vivid experience of the Spirit's presence and power in the life of the church.

We have seen the church for what she truly is: the body of Christ, a living community of love, embracing people of every race, nation and tongue, of every time and place, in the unity born of our faith in the risen Lord.

The power of the Spirit never ceases to fill the church with life. Through the grace of the church's sacraments, that power also flows deep within us, like an underground river which nourishes our spirit and draws us ever nearer to the source of our true life, which is Christ.

Here, in Oceania, let us give thanks in a special way for all those heroic missionaries, dedicated priests and religious, Christian parents and grandparents, teachers and catechists who built up the church in these lands witnesses like Blessed Mary MacKillop, St Peter Chanel, Blessed Peter To Rot, and so many others. The power of the Spirit, revealed in their lives, is still at work in the good they left behind, in the society which they shaped and which is being handed on to you.

Dear young people, let me now ask you a question. What will you leave to the next generation? Are you building your lives on firm foundations, building something that will endure? Are you living your lives in a way that opens up space for the Spirit in the midst of a world that wants to forget God, or even rejects Him in the name of a falsely conceived freedom?

How are you using the gifts you have been given, the power which the Holy Spirit is even now prepared to release within you? What legacy will you leave to young people yet to come? What difference will you make?

Empowered by the Spirit, and drawing upon faith's rich vision, a new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished, not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty.

A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships. Dear young friends, the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of His love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.

The world needs this renewal. In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13) in a desperate search for meaning the ultimate meaning that only love can give?

This is the great and liberating gift which the Gospel brings: it reveals our dignity as men and women created in the image and likeness of God. It reveals humanity's sublime calling, which is to find fulfilment in love. It discloses the truth about man and the truth about life.

The church also needs this renewal. She needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity, so that she can always be young in the Spirit. In today's second reading, the Apostle Paul reminds us that each and every Christian has received a gift meant for building up the body of Christ. The church especially needs the gifts of young people, all young people. She needs to grow in the power of the Spirit who even now gives joy to your youth and inspires you to serve the Lord with gladness.

Open your hearts to that power. I address this plea in a special way to those of you whom the Lord is calling to the priesthood and the consecrated life. Do not be afraid to say "yes" to Jesus, to find your joy in doing His will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others.

As we pray for the confirmands, let us ask that the power of the Holy Spirit will revive the grace of our own confirmation. May He pour out His gifts in abundance on all present, on this city of Sydney, on this land of Australia and on all its people. May each of us be renewed in the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of wonder and awe in God's presence.

Through the loving intercession of Mary, mother of the church, may this 23rd World Youth Day be experienced as a new Upper Room, from which all of us, burning with the fire and love of the Holy Spirit, go forth to proclaim the risen Christ and to draw every heart to Him. Amen.

---

The SMH wrap-up article couldn't have had a more upbeat title:



This blow-up illustrates the article on the Herald's WYD 'full coverage' summary.

A tsunami of hope and joy
by Linda Morris and Jano Gibson

July 21, 2008




POPE BENEDICT XVI walked in the footsteps of two popes to conduct an epic outdoor Mass at Randwick racecourse yesterday in front of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. It was an event the Australian Catholic Church believes will mark the reinvigoration of the faith across the nation.

The Mass, the largest held in Australia, was the high point for the church at the end of its week-long World Youth Day celebrations. One triumphant church leader hailed it as Sydney's "tsunami of faith and joy".

Bringing together pilgrims from 168 nations, it was held just 24 hours after the Pope apologised for clerical sex abuse and as the Vatican left open last night the possibility of an 11th- hour meeting between the Pope and abuse victims before his departure this morning for Rome.

"Can't you see the mascara?" said Merle Pollack, a 67-year-old pilgrim from Cremorne, of the experience. "I cried just about through the whole thing. There was something there in the energy … just the quietness of the people and the wonderful cleanliness of everything. It was just awesome. I've never experienced anything like it before and I'm glad I made the trek."

During his homily, the Pope said the church needed the gifts of a new generation who were willing to consider life in the priesthood and or as a nun or brother in a religious order.

The Pope asked those gathered: "What difference will you make?"

"I address this plea in a special way to those of you whom the Lord is calling to the priesthood and the consecrated life," the Pope said.

"Do not be afraid to say 'yes' to Jesus, to find your joy in doing His will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others."

The Pope described his visit to Australia, the longest journey of his three-year papacy, as an "unforgettable experience" of the Spirit's presence and power in the beauty of nature.

He repeated his message about the danger of secularism, sounding a warning about the spread of spiritual emptiness and calling on the gathered pilgrims to build a new world based on God's love.

"In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair.

"How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns [a biblical reference in Jeremiah] in a desperate search for meaning - the ultimate meaning that only love can give?"

It had rained in Cologne three years earlier and stormed in Toronto before that. In Sydney the weather blew cold and chilly as the pilgrims struggled bleary-eyed from their sleeping bags and tents after sleeping out.

By 10am, there were pilgrims stretching as far as the eye could see but though indisputably large, by the Vatican's own admission, crowds fell short of local organisers' best expectations.

As many as 500,000 were expected, the Vatican press office estimated 350,000, Sydney church officials more than 400,000, and the Government 300,000.

Mass had been cancelled in parishes across Sydney to draw the faithful to Randwick.

As the Popemobile swung through the gates of Randwick racecourse the crowd rose to its feet straining for a glimpse of Il Papa, but the hero worship that had been evident during John Paul II's visit in 1995 was more respectful and reverential for Benedict.

In one of the few unscheduled moments of his visit, as the Popemobile made its final turn to the altar, it stopped and a one-year-old child, Claire Hill, was presented to the Pope for his blessing. Her father, Peter, a father of 11, was ecstatic. "I just stood back and tears came to my eyes."

The Pope walked up the ramp to the elevated stage watched by VIPs, 26 cardinals and 420 bishops, who represented a who's who of the senior echelons of the church.

Among the guests were the President of East Timor, Jose Ramos Horta, the Federal Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson, the Shadow Treasurer, Malcolm Turnbull, the burns victim Sophie Delezio and her family, and the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore. The Premier, Morris Iemma, attended, taking Communion.

The sun desperately tried to shine through the grey skies as the Pope praised the "people of every race, nation, tongue, of every time and place" who had come a great distance.

The world the Pope sought was one in which "love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty".

"A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deadens our souls and poisons our relationships.

"Dear young friends, the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of His love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity."

The closing Mass was Catholic ritual on a grand scale but with some novel flourishes. Twelve Fijian seminarians, some of them in traditional dress, and youth members of the Sacred Heart parish in Levuka, the old capital of Fiji, brought the gospel to the stage.

Portions of the gospel of Luke were sung. The Pope personally confirmed 24 young people - 14 Australians and 10 visitors - giving them the sacrament that marks the completion of baptismal grace.

After the Pope's homily, the racecourse fell silent in prayer except for the buzz of police helicopters controlling the no-fly zone.

During the Communion rite, hosts were distributed by 3,000 priests. Another 1,000 acolytes and extraordinary ministers provided Communion at the rear of the venue.

Yesterday's Mass capped a week of celebrations which began with the opening Mass at East Darling Harbour attended by more than 140,000 people, followed by faith-led teachings, youth festivities and the dramatic re-enactment of the crucifixion.

Despite the threats of protests, the event proceeded peacefully, and virtually without incident. Shortly before the end of the Mass, pilgrims began leaving the racecourse to begin the 40-minute walk back to Central Station.

An extra 930 train services and about 2000 bus services had been put in place to carry people in and out of the city yesterday.

Looking over the vast congregation, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, said the turnout reminded the church that it was still alive and young.

"Too often she is weighed down and burdened by the sins and failings of her children, too often she appears disfigured and discouraged. So we give thanks for World Youth Day which is a gift for the church as a whole.

"At World Youth Day the church appears as she truly is, alive with evangelical faith."

Bidding the crowd arrividerci, Pope Benedict XVI announced Madrid would be the next host of the international Catholic celebrations in 2011.


From darkness to light
in the cauldron of souls

July 21, 2008



Spanish pilgrims exult as the Pope announces Madrid will be the site of WYD 2011.

In the wee small hours John Huxley mingled with huddled masses in place of galloping trackworkers normally on the move at Randwick racecourse.

Three o'clock Sunday morning, chilly and wet underfoot, with a watery moon overhead. Most of the estimated 150,000 pilgrims contentedly crammed into the newly declared Southern Cross Sanctuary are trying to sleep. But it is not easy.

Generators throb. Every now and then, emergency vehicles go wah wahing off into the night. Piercing floodlights and big screens turn a night that earlier twinkled softly with candlelight into premature day.

And everywhere, bobbing across a vast sea of sleeping bags, tents, cardboard shelters and multiple occupancy accommodations made out of commandeered crash barriers and tarpaulins, pilgrims are moving.

Praying. Singing. Drumming. Whistling. Chanting, annoyingly, like the rival Spanish and Australian groups, engaged in a battle between the "ole, ole, oles" and the "oi! oi! ois!".

Or merely roaming restlessly, making friends, giving and receiving hugs, joining conversations, making confessions.

By morning, Father Joseph Kodiyan, from Kerala, in southern India, one of several priests sitting on white plastic chairs, or in the dewy dirt, outside the Missionaries of Charity marquee, has heard dozens, from east and west.

Human nature, he says, is similar the world over. "There are always issues with money and women sexy." But like many Westerners, he suggests, most Sydneysiders are not God-fearing.

"They think creature comforts will give them joy. It is an illusion," he says taking his interviewer's hand. "This is why so many of them come to India, looking for the meaning their lives at home are lacking."

Several hundred metres away, almost lost in the maze of race railings, sand breaks and crash barriers, Iraqi Catholics are patiently posing for pictures taken in front of a bloody cross, by a stream of fellow pilgrims.

Michael Butres and Lara Kiryakos, who now live in Sydney, explain that since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Catholics, who are mainly from northern Iraq, near Ninevah, have been increasingly persecuted.

In the absence of alcohol, banned except in the VIP area, Michael O'Connor, from county Wexford, has gone in search of a diet cola, swathed in the Irish flag and a foil space blanket. He can't sleep. Too cold? Too noisy? "No, too excited."

He has spent his savings to come to Sydney. He has probably lost his job. He has walked with thousands of others across the Harbour Bridge from North Sydney, near the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel. He has seen, on several occasions, the Pope, who despite his monotonic, Teutonic drawl, and sometimes highly technical message, proves again at Saturday night's vigil to be the only person who can reduce the masses to silence.

Now, on World Youth Day proper, O'Connor is about to see the Holy Father again, albeit as a distant dot on the Kensington horizon, among a crowd of half a million. Or thereabouts.

Though non-Catholics suspect the numbers - 235,000 for the vigil, for example - have been exaggerated, no one really knows.

No matter. It was a tumultuous weekend when all roads led not to Rome but to Randwick; to a racecourse and, less controversially, to nearby Centennial Park, where unofficial pilgrims and interested spectators gathered.

Randwick may not be such a prestigious place of pilgrimage as, say Compostela, Canterbury or the Holy Land, but it proved capable of accommodating both Masses and masses.

And, after all, didn't the Marist Brothers at Pagewood celebrate an anniversary a few years back by sponsoring a horserace at the famous course?

Fortunately, at least for those sleeping out and those attending yesterday's Mass, which provided a solemn climax to World Youth Day, the going remained good to firm.

So much for fears that Randwick might be turned into a moshpit, reminiscent of a muddy scene from Roberto Rossellini's famous film Francis, God's Jester.

For many the Mass represented the conclusion to more than 24 hours spent on the road or in the field. Paula Asiasiou, from Samoa, was one of 14 Sisters of Nazareth to cross the Harbour Bridge in the first wave at 5.30am on Saturday. "We wanted to go first. We didn't want to be late."

But how would she occupy the time. "Quietly. Praying. Reflecting," she said with a look of puzzlement.

Not far behind were almost 1000 pilgrims representing Our Lady of Lebanon Church in Parramatta. "We are here to support the Holy Father," explained Paul Hoyek. "And to keep it peaceful and have fun," added Joseph Hajj.

Different battalions of a mighty army, the sisters crossed the bridge in silence; the Lebanese, banging drums, blowing horns, waving flags, chanting "Benedetto", the pet name for the Pope found on everything from song-sheets to football shirts.

The famous American journalist Ambrose Bierce once defined a pilgrim as a "traveller that is taken seriously". He would have enjoyed the company of yesterday's crowd, who for all their youthful exuberance seemed remarkably earnest.

Typically, a bunch of Americans noisily playing their brand of football paused to discuss the Pope's vigil message about "relativism", citing author Gertrude Himmelfarb on how a failure to speak out about right and wrong had resulted in the "de-moralisation of modern society".

At the racecourse, there were no signs of bad behaviour, such as discarded condoms rumoured by some members of the media to have been found at previous World Youth Days.

But apart from the obvious religious significance of the past week's events, there was - among believers and non-believers, it seemed - a sense of self-sacrifice, of being a part of something historic, something beyond the everyday, something bigger, more meaningful than the sum of the individuals present.

The great exodus of pilgrims has begun. As Cardinal George Pell warned at the opening Mass last Tuesday, the days will pass too quickly and all too soon they will go home, will return to earth with a bump. "For a time some of you will find the real world of home and parish, work or study, flat and disappointing."

But what of their hosts?

They have been inspired to produce some fine one-liners. Herald readers noted, for example, "the miracle on [an empty] George Street", the appropriateness of the city staging the "stations of the cross", and how the Pope was more exposed than even Cate Blanchett during the 2020 Summit pilgrimage.

More seriously, Sydneysiders have warmly welcomed the event or railed against its cost and disruption; complained that the media coverage was too sycophantic or too cynical; have been moved to tears of joy by the Pope's appearance, or tears of anger at his failure to apologise properly for the church's abuse of minors.

When the evangelist Billy Graham left Sydney after a 15-week nationwide crusade almost 30 years ago, it was said that some 130,000 had committed anew to Jesus Christ.

There may be no signs yet, or indeed ever, that World Youth Day has had a similar effect. Reports of Sydney "rediscovering its soul" may yet prove unfounded.

But as one "confirmed agnostic", heading to Centennial Park for the "the inspiring theatricality" of yesterday's Mass, put it, perhaps it will be remembered like the 2000 Olympics. "For happy, smiley people. For a glimpse of a Sydney that is less clogged with traffic, more relaxed, full of pride for what it is and what it's got."







Sydney World Youth Day 'the best'
Australian Associated Press
July 20, 2008 - 3:44PM

For the faithful and non-religious alike, the final Mass marks an amazing event and in the mind of at least one experienced pilgrim, the end of the best World Youth Day (WYD).

Each of the 215,000 pilgrims who registered for WYD has a story to tell and most are happy tales.

As these Catholic youth braved Sydney's chilly temperatures, queued to use facilities or shed a tear during The Stations of the Cross, they maintained an air of excitement that spread through the city.

Francesca Avi, 29, came to Sydney from Italy a year ago for a holiday. When she found out WYD was to be held in the harbour city, she extended her stay and got involved in its preparation and organisation.

"This is my third WYD ... I've been to Paris (1997) and Rome (2000) and now here," Ms Avi told AAP.

"This is the best so far. Of course it gets better each time and the fact I've been involved with some of the organising and here a few months before, it has been a great experience for me."

The Catholic woman, who works in an administration role in Sydney, was joined by around 20 family members and friends from Italy for WYD, and she admits they were one of the many groups wandering through city streets last week with big smiles on their faces, flying a large Italian flag.

"The feelings and the happiness of all the young people (is) something that can really strengthen your faith," said Ms Avi, who helped organise the bishop's conference and also did some Italian translating.

Also among the crowd at Randwick was 17-year-old Harley Broker from Texas in the US, who has been waiting his "whole life" to attend WYD.

"I've been to church with my family every Sunday that I can remember," the student and youngest of 10 children told AAP.

"I'm from a very strongly religious family.

"...all my older brothers and sisters have come (to WYDs) and this year it's my turn. I've been waiting my whole life," he said, adding it was his aim to become a Catholic priest.

However, WYD was not solely for the religious, with people of no faith taking the opportunity to get involved in events.

Thanh Tran, 25, from Melbourne, and her group of about 14 friends, came to Sydney to be part of the final Mass.

"I'm not Catholic or religious at all but we wanted to come because it's such a historic event," said the university student, who added that she was excited about seeing Pope Benedict XVI during the event.

"The crowd here is amazing," she said.

"Everyone should be a part of this."

Tumi Le meets Pope Benedict XVI with kiss

By Michelle Cazzulino and Kate Sikora
News.com.au
July 21, 2008 12:01am



LITTLE does baby Tumi know that yesterday's historic kiss by Pope Benedict continues her family's religious lineage that spans six generations.

More than 150 years after the death of her canonised relative, Vietnamese preacher Joseph Luu, Tumi was yesterday one of just three babies to be embraced in the Pontiff's gentle arms.

Tumi's family believes it was the intercession of her great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Saint Joseph Luu, that led to her unexpected audience with Pope Benedict XVI yesterday.

An estimated 400,000 people turned out for World Youth Day's final event, the Final Mass, which was offered at Randwick racecourse.

Earlier, tens of thousands of cheering pilgrims who had spent Saturday night sleeping under the stars lined the perimeter of the venue crying, "Viva il Papa!" as the papal motorcade completed a slow circuit.

Like many other young mothers around her, Bichly Le held her youngest daughter aloft as the official procession approached.

"A gentleman from security picked her up . . . I had lifted her very high because I just wanted the Pope to see her. I was hoping he would wave at her or bless her," she said.

"I didn't know he would take her. I thought he might tell me to back off because maybe I'd gone too far, but he said, 'It's OK'.

"I let him take her, and the Pope was kissing her. I was crying - it's a moment I will never forget."

Along with husband Tu, Mrs Le has been heavily involved with World Youth Day.

The family has billeted nine pilgrims at their Cabramatta home for the past week.

Mrs Le said her unwavering faith in St Joseph Luu had guided her through difficult periods in her life.

"Over the past few months we've been having a hard time financially because of rising interest rates, so I've been praying to him.

"It hasn't made a difference financially, but this happening, I think, is more important than anything."

Clare Hill, who turned one last week, got a belated birthday present when she was also picked out of the crowd to be blessed by the Pope.

Her proud father Peter said it was an "emotional" moment and described it as a blessing on his family.

"They carried the baby over to the popemobile, the electric window went down, the Holy Father took hold of Clare and gave her a blessing and a kiss," Mr Hill, from the South Coast, said yesterday.

"The crowd nearby wanted to be photographed with Clare straight afterwards and to kiss her," he said.

World Youth Day organisers were last night similarly grateful to Pope Benedict as they reflected on the enormous success of the Catholic youth festival.

Speaking at yesterday's Mass, Cardinal George Pell extended his "profound thanks" to the Pontiff, adding a special message to the 215,000 registered pilgrims who took part in the week-long event.

"You have planted a seed here in the great south land that will, please God, yield a hundredfold harvest," he said.

WYD co-ordinator Bishop Anthony Fisher said Sydney had extended its heart and arms.

"Sydney has really been struck by a tsunami of faith and goodwill," Bishop Fisher said.

"I want to thank Sydney - it has opened its roads, its fridges, its homes, its halls, its arms and hearts to the young people."

Bishop Fisher said he had been touched by the personal accounts he had heard since the festival began on July 15.

"So many people have contributed to this. I have heard of train drivers and bus drivers taking extra shifts," he said.

Bishop Fisher said images of Sydney and World Youth Day had been beamed to almost a billion viewers, and last Friday's dramatisation of the Stations of the Cross had been described as one of the most moving renditions ever seen.

"There were so many activities to make it a very, very special week.

"The wonderful messages and wonderful preaching of the Holy Father (made it special)."

Almost half the registered pilgrims were from overseas.

They are expected to begin their journey home from today, with Sydney Airport predicted to experience its busiest day ever.

After a ceremony to thank World Youth Day's 800 volunteers, Pope Benedict will fly back to Rome this morning.

But the church has admitted the future of Catholicism in Australia remains unknown, despite the popularity of World Youth Da

More about why Spain might have been chosen for the next WYD


Pope Benedict XVI says Madrid will host World Youth Day 2011

Times Online
July 20, 2008

The Pope says that Madrid, the capital of Spain will host the next World Youth Day in 2011.

To the jubilation of some 5,000 Spanish pilgrims present at World Youth Day 2008 in Australia, Benedict XVI broke the news at the events' closing Mass in Sydney, saying: "Until then, let us continue to pray for one another and let us joyfully bear witness to Christ before the world."

Nearly half a million worshippers turned up for the final Mass of World Youth Day, a five-day festival of prayer, worship, celebration and teaching, described by some as “The Catholic Woodstock.” During his first visit to Australia, Pope Benedict XVI also made a public apology for sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, saying he was “deeply sorry” for the pain and suffering endured by victims. “These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation. Those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice," he said in Saturday in St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.

A WYD pilgrim was arrested for insulting one of a number of groups protesting the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality and contraceptions. Wearing t-shirts splashed with the slogan ‘Pope go Homo’, they handed out condoms to the thousands of Catholic pilgrims who flooded into Sydney for the five-day event

The choice of the Spanish capital for the next WYD is said be Church sources to be the Pope’s personal preference, as in contrast to a secular city such as Sydney, Spain has a deeply Roman Catholic tradition.

Seventy-five per cent of Spain’s 40 million citizens class themselves as Roman Catholics, the country is strongly divided between fervent believers and progressive secularists anxious to distance Spain from its Catholic past, which they associate with the 36-year dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

The Socialist Government of José Luis Zapatero has clashed frequently and vigourously with the Church since assuming power in 2004. In a bid to establish Spain as a modern nation, dubbed by some ‘the Mediterranean Sweden’, Zapatero has introduced a series of controversial measures that fly in the face of Roman Catholic doctrine, including gay marriages, quick divorce, and research into embryonic stem cells.

Thousands of lay Roman Catholics, backed by the Spanish episcopate, have taken to the streets in protest. A particular concern for Catholic parents has been the introduction in state schools of compulsory “Citizenship Classes” which they claim impart Socialist values. The Government argues the classes, which teach equal rights, are necessary to reflect Spain’s increasingly international and pluralistic society.

Relations between the Church and State reached a new low in March, when the Spanish bishops advised voters against voting for the Socialist party, which later won a second term in office. The Government are now seeking to revise historic ties between Church and State.

Next World Youth Day will mark the second time the international celebration for Catholic Youth has taken place in Spain. In 1989, World Youth Day took place in Santiago de Compostela, Northern Spain, which, according to tradition, is the burial place of St James the Apostle.

Don't forget you can always see the latest videoclips on the Holy Father here:
www.radiovaticana.org/it1/videonews_ita.asp


Pope criticizes materialism
By TIM JOHNSTON

Published: July 21, 2008



A Spanish group cheers after the Pope announces that Madrid will be the site of the next international WYD.

SYDNEY — In his final address on Sunday to hundreds of thousands of young Catholics gathered in Australia, Pope Benedict XVI sharply criticized the violence and materialism of the modern age and called on his audience to build a “new age.”

“A new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God’s gift of life is welcomed, respected, and cherished — not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed,” the Pope told a congregation estimated by the organizers at 400,000 gathered at a Sydney racecourse and nearby park.

“A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships,” Benedict told his rapt audience, which included 26 cardinals and more than 400 bishops.

The communion Mass on Sunday was the culmination of six days of public and private events of World Youth Day, an event organized by the Roman Catholic Church that it said was the largest gathering of young people on the planet.

The 81-year-old Pope has used the event as a forum to call for religion to be returned to the center of the moral universe; for Catholicism to return to its evangelistic roots with its adherents publicly declaring their religiosity; and for a united front, among Christians and among the world’s religions, in a world becoming ever more materialistic.

“In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair,” he warned.

Earlier in the week, Benedict had fired a broadside against materialism.

He said that in the absence of God, “what was ostensibly promoted as human ingenuity soon manifests itself as folly, greed and selfish exploitation.”

“Our world has grown weary of greed, exploitation and division,” the pope said, “of the tedium of false idols and piecemeal responses, and the pain of false promises.”

He also used an address on Saturday to apologize for the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests and brothers in Australia. Going further than in the apology he made to American Catholics during a visit to the United States in April, the Pontiff identified himself personally with the pain of the victims.

“I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured, and I assure them that, as their pastor, I too share in their suffering,” he said in a brief departure from his prepared script.

He said that those guilty of sexual abuse, “a grave betrayal of trust,” should be brought to justice.

But Broken Rites, a group that assists those who have been sexually abused by figures of religious authority, called the gesture hollow, saying that he had not apologized to the victims in person.

There was also discomfort in some quarters about the money that local and national government bodies have contributed to the event, which may cost taxpayers as much as 160 million Australian dollars, or about $155 million.

The organizers call it money well spent and say the value of the publicity, with as many as 500 million people watching televised coverage of the week’s biggest events, more than offset the costs.

The number of people who attended Mass on Sunday — 400,000 according to the organizers, although the Vatican had a lower figure — was short of the half a million that the Catholic Church had predicted. But in other aspects, World Youth Day has been a triumph, even if it did not reach quite the sort of scale that organizers had hoped for.

Despite the presence of hundreds of thousands of young visitors, 125,000 of them from overseas, there was almost no trouble. The police reported only one arrest, of a young Australian Catholic who punched a demonstrator who was throwing condoms into a crowd of pilgrims to protest the church’s stand on birth control and its opposition to the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Throughout the week, attendees filled Sydney’s streets, in groups clearly identifiable by their bright backpacks and occasionally breaking into song. For many, part of the joy had been being with like-minded people, what the organizer of World Youth Day, Bishop Anthony Fisher, called “the ability to say ‘God’ in public, not having to hide it away in church for an hour each week.”

The event has also won praise from indigenous Australians, many of whom have in the past existed on the margins of mainstream Australian society. Aboriginal groups played a prominent role in many of the pope’s public engagements since he arrived, and among his first comments were thanks to his Aboriginal hosts, recognizing their historical guardianship of the land of Australia.

“I am deeply moved to stand on your land, knowing the suffering and injustices it has borne,” the Pope said in an address on Thursday, “but aware too of the healing and hope that are now at work, rightly bringing pride to all Australian citizens.”

Philip Walford, an indigenous Australian, said he had been touched by the Pope’s recognition of Aboriginal culture.

“It was just beautiful,” Mr. Walford said after Mass on Sunday. “I think that that is what a lot of people wanted to see, and it gives the Aboriginal community of Australia hope for what is going on.”

The Pope announced that World Youth Day, which happens every three or four years, would be held next in Madrid in 2011.

NB: Vatican Radio said earlier today the precise dates are August 5-11, 2011.





The Washington Post, like almost all other US newspapers, used news agency reports on WYD and the papal trip.


Pope wraps up Australia trip
with final Mass
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON

Sunday, July 20, 2008 1:18 PM



SYDNEY, Australia July 20 (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI ended his farthest pilgrimage Sunday, one intended to inspire a new generation of faithful while trying to overcome a dark chapter for his church from a clerical sex abuse scandal.

Summing up his message, Benedict told young pilgrims at a Mass in Sydney that a "spiritual desert" was spreading throughout the world and challenged them to shed the greed and cynicism of their time to create a new age of hope.

The Vatican said some 350,000 faithful from almost 170 countries packed the Randwick race track _ many of them camping out in sleeping bags in the mild chill of the Australian winter _ as well as a global television audience.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said it was Sydney's biggest crowd since the Olympic Games in 2000.

Asked how the 81-year-old pope fared with the audience at the World Youth Day event _ alternately football-stadium boisterous or chapel quiet depending on the occasion _ Lombardi said Benedict's speeches were "positive, constructive, never polemical."

Benedict touched on themes for the universal Church as well as Australia in particular _ raising the need for the world to change its lifestyles because of global warming, relations with non-Catholics and the struggle here to rejuvenate a crisis-battered Church.

At Sunday's Mass under threatening skies, Benedict urged young Christians to be agents of change because "the world needs renewal."

"In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair," the pontiff said.

The Pope said it was up to a new generation of Christians to build a world in "which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished _ not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed."

They must embrace the power of God "to let it break through the curse of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age," he said.

The aim was "a new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deadens our souls and poisons our relationships," he said.

It is a primary theme of his papacy, with him acknowledging on his way to Australia that the Church in the West was "in crisis" because people no longer see the need for God. But he insisted it was not in decline. "I am an optimist" about its future, he said.

Benedict announced that, as expected, Madrid, Spain, would host the next World Youth Day in 2011 and told the pilgrims.

The more than 20 hour flight from Rome to Australia was the longest distance Benedict has traveled as Pope.

He flew over the scene of the Mass early Sunday in a helicopter _ dubbed "the holy-copter" by bleary-eyed pilgrims below. He saw the assemblage swarming all over the track in a jumble of sleeping bags and backpacks.

"It's been crazy, hectic, nuts _ but it's also been serene, calming and very fulfilling," said Margaret Mazzella, 48, of Westchester, New York, as she rested on a sleeping bag and picked at a tuna sandwich following the festival's final Mass on Sunday.

He later drove slowly through the crowd, stopping once to kiss the forehead of a toddler held up to the popemobile's window. Pilgrims gave him a rock-star welcome, waving the flags of their nations, cheering and chanting his name.

Some pilgrims at World Youth Day complained Pope Benedict XVI sped past them during two drive-throughs in Sydney _ so quickly they barely caught a glimpse of the Pontiff before he was gone.

Australian media gave prominent attention to Benedict's apology Saturday for the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, headlining his words "I Am Deeply Sorry."

He said he wanted "to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt" and called for those responsible to be "brought to justice." The acts were "evil" and a "grave betrayal of trust," he said.

The Pope's apology was not enough to satisfy representatives of the victims of clergy sexual abuse, who said it must be backed by Vatican orders to Australian bishops to stop what they say are efforts to cover up the extent of the problem and to block survivors' attempts to win compensation.

The apology followed similar statements in the United States in April, where he also met with a small group of victims.

Even as the papal entourage prepared to leave Monday morning, it was still unclear whether Benedict would do the same in Australia. Lombardi would not rule out the possibility in the waning hours of the visit.

The Pope was due to leave Australia for the Vatican on Monday.





Pope Benedict celebrates Mass
for pilgrims in Sydney
By Jacob Greber



SYDNEY, July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass for hundreds of thousands of Catholic pilgrims in Sydney today, the climax of a weeklong festival of faith billed as the largest youth gathering in the world.

The 81-year-old Pontiff landed at the city's Royal Randwick Racecourse by helicopter and toured the track in his Popemobile to greet cheering crowds before the service began.

"This has strengthened my faith," said 16-year-old Andy Trevinos Simons from Peru, who was among more than 200,000 people who held an overnight vigil at the racecourse to await the Mass.

The World Youth Day celebration, held every three years, is the biggest event Australia has hosted. It was established by Pope John Paul II in 1986 to inspire the next generation of Catholics and will be held in Madrid, Spain, in 2011.

"The world needs this renewal," Benedict said. "In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading; an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair."

Twenty-six cardinals and 420 bishops joined the Pope on the stage before serving communion to people gathered from 168 countries. Organizers estimated the Mass was attended by 400,000 people.

Benedict, who leads the world's 1.1 billion Catholics, wore specially designed vestments for the Mass to honor Australia's Aborigines. The red chasuble, also worn by the other clergy officiating, bore an image of a bird, representing an indigenous adaptation of the Holy Spirit. [NO!]


The Pope's chasuble was different from all the others. It featured a central embroidered decorative panel front and back of stylized palm fronds. The chasubles worn by the other concelebrants featured the Southern Cross constellation in front, and Marjorie's Bird on the back, both as single discreet designs.


"It has not been easy for us to make this journey," said Allen Ottaro, 24, from Kenya, who was among the crowd of pilgrims waving flags and taking photographs as the papal motorcade arrived for the Mass. "But it has been a great way for us to come together with other young people and not fear talking about our faith."

Thousands of young Spaniards cheered as the Pope announced Madrid will be the next city to host World Youth Day.

"I look forward to seeing you again in three years' time," he said.

Benedict is scheduled to remain in Sydney until tomorrow before flying back to Rome on his official aircraft, dubbed 'Shepherd One' [by the media]. [He does not have an 'official aircraft'!]

It is Benedict's first visit to Australia, where about 26 percent of the country's 21.3 million people described themselves as Catholic in the most recent census, in 2001.

He apologized yesterday to victims of childhood sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church's Australian clergy, saying those responsible should be brought to justice.

"I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured and I assure them that, as their pastor, I too share in their suffering," the German-born Pope said yesterday as he dedicated a new altar at St. Mary's Cathedral. "These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation."

Australian support group Broken Rites, which says more than 3,500 people have sought its help during the past 15 years, demanded 'action, not just words', and said the Catholic Church must make it easier for victims of sexual abuse to take action in the courts. [It's not up to the Church - it's all about what can be proved or not by the accusers in a court of law! If it does not cooperate when its cooperation is material to a case, then that would be clearly wrong.]





Pope will bid farewell Monday
to Sydney as clean-up begins

July 21, 2008


World Youth Day may have officially ended yesterday, but Pope Benedict XVI has one more commitment today before leaving Sydney.

The 81-year-old Pontiff will meet with 12,000 World Youth Day volunteers to thank them for the smooth running of the week's events.

Organisers say the Pope has had a wonderful time in Sydney and will be re-energised by the events of the past week.

Sydney will begin returning to normal this morning with roads being reopened and a massive clean-up getting underway at Randwick racecourse.

Workers have five weeks to turn the site of yesterday's spectacular closing mass back into a working racecourse.

World Youth Day Coordination Authority's Adam Berrry says drivers should not be inconvenienced on Sydney roads today.

"They won't see any road closures," he said.

"There's only going to be five [closures] of the 500 left and those five are all around St Mary's Cathedral where the Pope remains in residence."

The Pope will be one of tens of thousands of passengers leaving Sydney in what is expected to be one of the busiest days on record at the airport.

Meanwhile, Sydney's Chamber of Commerce estimates World Youth Day has generated more than $230 million in economic activity. [If critics say the government spent $150 million, then there is clearly a postive return on investment!]
Executive director Patricia Forsythe says a wide range of businesses in Sydney benefited from the event.

She says 200,000 pilgrims visited the city during the quietest time of the year, significantly bolstering the economy.

Don't forget you can always see the latest videoclips on the Holy Father here:
www.radiovaticana.org/it1/videonews_ita.asp

Excellent post-event reporting in the Monday edition of :



Pope's age of renewal
by Sian Powell

July 21, 2008


POPE Benedict XVI has attacked the spreading "spiritual desert" of the modern world, and called for a new religious age of faith and redemption.

Celebrating the pinnacle of the exuberant World Youth Day festival in Sydney, the Pope yesterday exhorted as many as 400,000 worshippers to become prophets for the renewal of religious life.

A sea of pilgrims carrying national and religious flags fell silent as the 81-year-old pontiff began to pray at the largest religious gathering ever staged in Australia, the grand finale of a week of celebration and teaching.

He prayed for a new age "in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships". "The world needs this renewal," he said.

The Pope will leave Sydney this morning after four full days of prayer and events since arriving on July 13. Capping his first visit to Australia with the message of renewal, he said the Catholic Church needed the "gifts of young people, all young people".

Sydney Archbishop George Pell echoed the Pope's call to youth at the mass, and spoke of the church's renewed vigour. "We give thanks for the World Youth Day, which is a gift for the church as a whole, for those both old and young," he said. "At World Youth Day the church appears as she truly is - alive with evangelical energy."

The Pope's World Youth Day pronouncements included an apology to the victims of the "evil" of clerical sexual abuse - a statement dubbed the most far-reaching to date. Allegations of sexual abuse and of the church's failure to adequately deal with sexual abusers and their victims marred the build-up to World Youth Day, and hopes were high for a papal apology.

Yesterday some victims' groups were incensed the Pope had not personally apologised to any victims, but his words at St Mary's Cathedral on the eastern fringe of the Sydney CBD on Saturday were heartfelt.

"Indeed, I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured, and I assure them that, as their pastor, I too share in their suffering," he said in an unscripted addition to his address to young seminarians and other members of the church.

During his visit to Sydney, the Pope also privately told the Sisters of Saint Joseph that their order's co-founder Mary MacKillop would become Australia's first saint.

He also met other religious leaders and disadvantaged young people and afforded as many people as possible a sight of him on his tours across the harbour and through the city in his Popemobile.

A spokesman for Kevin Rudd, who greeted the Pope on his arrival on July 13, described the event as "spectacular".

"It's been a great week, not just for Australia's Catholic community, but for the whole Australian community," he said.

Georgie Mignone, a 23-year-old student from Adelaide, said she had been overwhelmed by World Youth Day. "The general outpouring of love and passion and excitement and energy has been amazing," she said. She had stayed in a Catholic school in Maroubra, in Sydney's east, and like scores of thousands of others she had walked to the racecourse for the final mass.

Johannes Demmer, a 28-year-old engineer from Germany, said he had been staying at a caravan site in Dural, about an hour's bus ride from Sydney. "It's the togetherness, the unity in the church," he said. "To come from a society where the church doesn't play a big role to this - it's great."

Like thousands of other pilgrims, Mr Demmer arrived at the racecourse on Saturday, in time for a candle-lit vigil with the Pope, and spent the night in the open. "It was cold, but we were prepared for it," he said.

Although there was a slight shortfall in numbers of registered pilgrims - 215,000 compared with an estimated 225,000 - their enthusiasm and joy as they flooded the streets of Sydney stamped the massive event a success.

Numbers were also lower than expected for the final mass. Half a million people were expected to fill Randwick racecourse in Sydney's east and spill over into nearby Centennial Park to see the Pope celebrate mass. But yesterday church officials confirmed the crowd numbered between 350,000 and 400,000 enthusiastic worshippers. There were only sparse gatherings in nearby Centennial Park, although the racecourse was considered filled to capacity.

Fluttering flags from Australia, East Timor, Canada, the US and France were among the hundreds held high, alongside banners of the Virgin Mary and Jesus.

The Mass, which was beamed to as many as one billion people around the world, was a convergence of an ancient rite with a modern world.

Reverting to pre-Vatican II ritual, the Pope offered communion to kneeling worshippers and placed the host on their tongues rather than in their hands. The ceremony was multicultural, with prayers said in several languages, including Latin, and with the Pope confirming 24 young candidates from around the world in their faith.

Others in the massive congregation were overjoyed to be one of so many devotees from all around the world. Jacinta Healy, 24, helped carry the World Youth Day cross at an earlier event, and she said the Pope had acknowledged her with a nod.

"There were times when I felt emotionally drained to the bottom," she said.

Many felt the Pontiff's message of spiritual renewal addressed a long-felt need.

"That's what the youth of today need," said 27-year-old Brazilian-Australian Mauricio Boaretto, who had listened to the Pope's homily with rapt attention.

"Many people need God in their hearts, which are full of bad things like drugs."

The ceremony ended with the announcement that Madrid in Spain would host the 2011 World Youth Day, and a final send-off of fireworks and rockets.





Deft touch has brought youth closer
by Jane Fraser

July 21, 2008


CARDINAL George Pell reminded those at the Papal mass yesterday that although John Paul II was the founder of the concept of World Youth Day and he was a man greatly beloved of his flock, WYD did not belong to one Pope.

The cheers of “Benedetto! Benedetto!” and drum rolls from the hundreds of faithful at Randwick racecourse clearly was evidence that young people, and Australians as a whole, have quite taken Benedict XVI to their hearts.

He is a man who has taken on the office of head of the Catholic Church with his emphasis on love, startling some of the more outspoken of his critics who have referred to him as the Rottweiller, not the German Shepherd.

The way some of the media reported the visit by this Pope for World Youth Day, you'd be excused for thinking those in charge were landing a monster, a former “Panzer” Cardinal on the city.

How galling for them to know that either he couldn't put a foot wrong, or that he could thank divine intervention for the perfect weather, the enormous success of all major events, and his popularity with youth.

From the moment he arrived and took himself off for a three-day retreat, he never put a foot wrong.

He congratulated the Rudd Government for its apology to the Stolen Generations, and then said sorry to those who had suffered terrible abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy; he warned the policymakers about climate change and emphasised the importance of welcoming strangers.

The first day he was in Australia, the Pope started the day with morning prayers and his daily inspirational text message: “The Spirit impels us 4ward 2wards others; the fire of his love makes us missionaries of God's charity. CU tomorrow night - BXVI.” How cool is that, to have a digitally savvy pontiff. It's moving forward.

While he was here he spoke often of the importance of moving forward.

“We must guard against any temptation to view doctrine as divisive, and hence our impediment of the seemingly more pressing and immediate task of improving the world in which we live,” the Pontiff said.

He showed his keen sense of pastoral care, stopping on his way to Saturday night's vigil to visit the ailing Cardinal Edward Cassidy, blessing him and several priests and the Sisters of the Poor.

Then there was inter-faith dialogue with Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence from the Great Synagogue in Sydney and Sheik Shady Alsuleiman from the National Council of Imams.

Pope Benedict had lunch with a worldwide group of youngsters at St Mary's, where he met Craig Ashby, an indigenous 21-year old from Walgett who, seven years ago, was illiterate and who, by sheer determination, left his NSW country home, got a scholarship to St Joseph's college, and is now a student at Sydney University.

He said the Pope listened carefully to his account of the poverty of those in Aboriginal communities.

“Imagine meeting His Holiness,” he exclaimed.

Pope Benedict has steadfastly stepped up to his challenge of bringing young Australians back to the church.





The pilgrimage is over
by James Madden
:
July 21, 2008


TO many in the 400,000-strong crowd at Sydney's Randwick racecourse yesterday, the Pope was a tiny red and white speck in the distance.

It didn't matter. This wasn't a rock concert and the congregation wasn't worried about getting front-row seats.

It was enough just to be in the presence of the Pontiff.

Sister Catherina, a nun from Tonga who was seated well back in the throng, said: “We see Jesus when we see the Pope.”

For the international pilgrims and the local Catholics, yesterday's mass was a deeply spiritual experience - some described it as a once-in-a-lifetime event - and the religious climax of a six-day celebration that the Church hopes will re-energise the faith among the youth of Australia and the world.

The start of the service was delayed slightly after the pontiff's pre-Mass tour in a helicopter, followed by his Popemobile drive-by, took longer than planned.

Following complaints that the papal vehicle passed too quickly through Sydney's streets on Thursday, the famous Mercedes and its revered 81-year-old occupant yesterday travelled at a more leisurely pace.

The party atmosphere of the night before, when about 200,000 young pilgrims danced, sang and slept (a little) under the stars at the racecourse, gave way to a reverential tone when the Mass got under way just after 10am.

Grey skies threatened to open, but after a week of brilliant winter sunshine, the rain held off for the duration of the service, which ran for almost three hours.

The Pope, in a specially embellished WYD08 gown, was flanked by 420 bishops and 26 cardinals in the sanctuary of the altar, while 3000 priests were seated at the front of the sanctuary.

Delivering communion to hundreds of thousands was no easy task. Almost 1000 priests spread across the racecourse, with 600 chalices and 1300 ciboria - a bowl that holds the communion bread - each holding 250 wafers.

Just before the conclusion of the Mass, the Pope announced World Youth Day in 2011 would be hosted by Madrid. That sent thousands of Spaniards into wild flag-waving celebrations.

Ana Maria Amador, 21, from Seville, said: “This is amazing. It will be a really important event for Spain.”

In line with the impeccable behaviour of the pilgrims over the past six days, their cheering stopped as soon as the Pontiff signalled it was time for the final blessing.

“Until then, let us continue to pray for one another, and let us joyfully bear witness to Christ before the world. May God bless you all,” he said, bringing an official end to World Youth Day 2008.

Most pilgrims headed home soon after the service, in search of some sleep after a hectic week of celebrations. But a few thousand stayed at the racecourse until early evening, entertained by Catholic performers and international dance troupes.

Sydney twins Lana and Alexis Hyland, with Australian flags painted on their cheeks, admitted they were tired after their first World Youth Day.

“It was a full-on week,” Lana said. “But it has strengthened my faith. Meeting so many people from around the world who share your beliefs is pretty amazing and makes you realise you are not alone.”

April Grzeskiewicz, 15, from Michigan, agreed. “I'm the only practising Catholic out of all my school friends back home, which makes me feel kind of weird. But this week was great. And I'm going to tell all my friends about it when I get home.”

Such sentiments would have pleased the Pope. During his sermon, he told the congregation: “The Church also needs this renewal. She needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity so that she can always be young in the spirit.”





Sexual abuse apology welcomed
BY Stephen Lunn

July 21, 2008


POPE Benedict XVI's apology to child victims of sexual abuse by the clergy was his strongest statement yet on the emotional issue, victim's rights campaigner Chris MacIsaac said yesterday.

The Pope departed from a prepared homily at St Mary's Cathedral on Saturday to deliver the word Australian victims have been waiting to hear from the leader of the Catholic Church - sorry.

“I would like to pause to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy ... in this country,” he said.

“Indeed, I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured and I assure them that, as their pastor, I too share in their suffering.

“These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation. They have caused great pain, they have damaged the church's witness.

“Victims should receive compassion and care, and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice. It is an urgent priority to promote a safer and more wholesome environment, especially for young people.”

Ms MacIsaac, from the advocacy group Broken Rites, said the Pope had taken his apology further than his previous comments on the issue, including most recently in the US in April when he said he was “deeply ashamed” of sex abuse scandals there.

“He's never put it quite so strongly before. It's a clearer vision of the way his words can work for the benefit of victims in the future,” Ms MacIsaac said.

“His words can and should now be echoed by the Australian bishops and put into action in their handling of complaints by victims.”

Ms MacIsaac remained disappointed the Pope had not made his apology directly to sexual abuse victims. “I think people understand that apologies are done face to face. If you want someone to accept your apology as completely sincere you'd do it in person,” she said.

Mark Fabbro, a victim of abuse and member of the Catholic Abuse Survivors Collective, said while he was “happy to receive the apology, we still consider it indirect and insufficient”.

“He should have apologised to us face to face,” Mr Fabbro said. “Unless the church changes fundamentally the way they deal with victims, the words the Pope has used will remain meaningless,” he said.

Mr Fabbro said the Vatican should now follow the matter up with Australian bishops, appointing a special envoy to set up a procedure to deal more appropriately with complaints. The current system in Australia set up by the church and known as Towards Healing, was not transparent enough, he said.

Jesuit priest Frank Brennan said the Pope's apology was “heartfelt and included a clear directive to the local church to extend compassion, care and justice to the victims”.

But Father Brennan conceded more effort was needed to heal the rift between victims and the church.

“In the US months ago the Pope was able to meet with victims accompanied by local church leaders. That did not happen in Sydney,” he said. [Events today have since then disproved this statement!]

“Perhaps that was because we in Australia still have work to do in building the trust between victims, their representatives and local church leaders,” he said.

Prominent Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull said the papal apology was an important step forward.





And on the seventh day,
the city relaxed

by Matthew Clayfield
July 21, 2008


IT will be remembered as one of the most exuberant weeks in Sydney's history: a celebration of faith and youth that breathed life into the city and charmed even the most cynical and secular residents.

It was also a week of Papalmania, which began a little over a week ago with the arrival of the Pope, after the longest flight of his life, accompanied by a 27-member entourage.

He was greeted by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, NSW Premier Morris Iemma and the Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, then whisked away to an Opus Dei retreat in Kenthurst, northwest Sydney, where he spent the first half of the week relaxing and listening to Beethoven and Mozart.

Things were less serene in the city, which was inundated by pilgrims.

Monday saw the arrival in Sydney of the World Youth Day crucifix and icon, which cruised into Circular Quay on the Manly ferry to a jubilant welcome.

A long procession of pilgrims, armed with flags, songs and irrepressibly high spirits, carried the 3.8m cross through the city to Belmore Park, where many, kneeling before it, prayed together and wept.

Cardinal Pell led the opening Mass the next afternoon, conducting the service in front of 150,000 at Barangaroo on the harbour foreshore. The service was the largest Mass held in Australia, a record that fell yesterday when 400,000 pilgrims attended the Pope's final mass at Randwick Racecourse.

On Wednesday, while Pope Benedict was introduced to local fauna, including a koala named Darwin, the pilgrims attended a bevy of events: catechism classes, Catholic heavy metal concerts and even a careers fair designed to attract them to the cloth.

Things were taken to a new level the following day -- Super Holy Thursday -- with the Pope's arrival in Sydney via boat-a-cade. For the 215,00 registered pilgrims who had made the trek to Sydney to see him, the arrival of the man they called Il Papa was vindication of their pilgrimage.

As the Pope cruised away in his custom-made Popemobile, the masses thronged to get a glimpse of him, chanting his name.

Friday's stations of the cross was an epic theatrical production of Jesus Christ's final hours, unfolding across the city over three hours.

Sydney actor Alfio Stuto, 27, played Christ, a role that required him to brave the cold winds coming off Sydney Harbour as he was stripped bare, beaten and crucified.

Father Franco Cavarra, the mastermind of the production, said he was "deeply moved and overwhelmed" as he watched it play out across the city.

On Saturday, pilgrims made their way to Randwick Racecourse, walking from North Sydney across the Sydney Harbour Bridge for an evening vigil with the Pope.

Earlier in the day, at St Mary's Cathedral, the Pope made an official apology to victims ofsexual abuse by clergy in Australia.

Yesterday, about 400,000 attended the mass. The mighty logistical achievement involved 18km of temporary fencing, more than 22km of crowd-control barriers and more than18km of bunting ropes at Randwick.

The week's itinerary officially over, the pilgrims started their trek back into the city yesterday to prepare for the journey home.

The Pope will leave today on a Qantas plane.

He will fly back to the Vatican with Sydney's World Youth Day already proclaimed for running with fewer glitches than the 2000 Olympics.

Don't forget you can always see the latest videoclips on the Holy Father here:
www.radiovaticana.org/it1/videonews_ita.asp


Pope meets abuse victims
by Paola Totaro

July 21, 2008 - 8:37AM



Pope Benedict XVI conducted a Mass with representatives of sexual abuse victims this morning, less than an hour before he is due to take off to return to Rome.

The Pope officiated at the Mass with a group representing victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy.

The Pope listened to their harrowing stories and consoled them and assured them of his support and his continuing prayer of their friends and families of the victims

With this gesture the Pope wanted to demonstrate once more his support and sorrow for all those who have been sexually abused around the world at the hands of Catholic priests.

It is understood that the Mass was conducted in the chapel of St Marys.

The news of his last-minute gesture was disseminated to the Vatican press corp as they were on a bus to board a Qanats flight back to Rome.

The gesture culminates a hugely successful trip for the Pope and it was clearly an unscheduled Mass - but one which can only add to the successful reading of his Australian trip. [No, the Mass was not unscheduled. It is his daily private Mass - which is listed in the official program of the visit - to which obviously, he decided to invite the victims adn their advocates.]

The Pope celebrated the mass with four victims - two men and two women - and their supporters.

It was held in a tiny chapel of the chapter house in St Marys. It began at 7am and he was helped in the Mass by Cardinal Pell and Archbishop Filoni.

It was a highly emotional meeting and which Pope said conveyed the drama and the sorrow of the victims.

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Pope meets sex abuse victims
in Australia: Vatican

July 21 8:36 a.m.


SYDNEY, July 21 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Monday met four Australian victims of sexual abuse by clergymen to hear about their ordeals and console them, papal spokesman Father Frederico Lombardi told journalists.

"With regard to abuses by members of the clergy, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on Monday morning celebrated Mass with a group of representatives of victims of sexual abuse," Lombardi said in a message to reporters in Australia.

The meeting with victims came two days after the Pope issued an historic apology for what he described as the "evil" of priestly sex abuse, saying he was "deeply sorry" and calling for those responsible to be punished.

"The Pope listened to their stories and consoled them. He assured them of his spiritual proximity and proposed to continue to pray for them, for their families and for all victims," Lombardi said.

Following the Pope's unprecedented apology Saturday to victims of abuse at the hands of some Australian priests, Vatican watchers had been eagerly awaiting signs of a further gesture, such as a meeting with victims.

The Pope was poised to leave Australia on Monday after a nine-day visit to lead World Youth Day celebrations that were partly overshadowed by the controversy of sex abuse in the church.


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Pope meets Australian victims
of sexual abuse



SYDNEY, July 21 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict met victims of sexual abuse by the clergy in Australia on Monday at a private mass, an unscheduled meeting that followed his public apology at the weekend to all Australian victims.

"A group of victims attended a papal private Mass this morning," the Vatican said in a statement. "With this fatherly gesture the Holy Father wanted to once again show his concern for all those who had suffered sexual abuse."

The Pontiff issued the public apology on Saturday, on the eve of his World Youth Day open-air Mass in Sydney. There have been 107 convictions for sexual abuse in the Catholic church in Australia but victims groups say there may be thousands of cases.

Sexual abuse by Catholic clergy has overshadowed the pope's visit to Sydney, with the Church reopening a 25-year-old abuse case in Australia only days before the pontiff arrived. [Watch your verbs! It has shadowed it, but has certainly not overshadowed it!]

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Pope meets with abuse victims



SYDNEY, Australia, July 21 (AP) - The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI met with victims of clergy child sex abuse in Australia.

The Pontiff held a Mass on Monday with two men and two women who represented the victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests as a gesture of consolation and his concern about the issue, the Vatican said in a statement.

The announcement was made Monday as Benedict leaves Australia, where he attended the Church's youth festival.

The Pope on Saturday made a forthright public apology to victims of the abuse that has rocked the Church in recent years.


Here's a later story from AP:

Pope meets with clergy abuse victims
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON



SYDNEY, Australia, July 21 (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI met privately on Monday with Australians who were sexually abused as children by priests, in a gesture of contrition and concern over a scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic church.

The Pontiff held prayers and spoke with four representatives of abuse victims — two men and two women — in the last hours of a nine-day visit to Australia for the Church's global youth festival.

The abuse scandal was a sour undertone to the trip. On Saturday, Benedict delivered a forthright apology for the scandal, saying he was "deeply sorry" for the victims' suffering.

But victims' supporters said this was not enough, and have demanded Benedict to more to provide financial compensation and psychological help for them.

The Vatican did not give details of the conversations between the pope and the victims he met for about one hour on Monday.

"In an expression of his ongoing pastoral concern for those who have been abused by members of the church, his holiness celebrated mass with a representative group of victims," the Vatican said in a statement.

"He listened to their stories and offered them consolation. Assuring them of his spiritual closeness he promised to continue to pray for them, their families and all victims.

"Through this paternal gesture, the Holy Father wished to demonstrate again his deep concern for all victims of sexual abuse," it said.

The Pope, who has made repairing damage caused by the scandal one of the themes that defines his papacy, held a similar meeting with clergy abuse victims in the United States during a visit there in April.

The meeting and Mass in Sydney took place between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. at the residence in Sydney's St. Mary's Cathedral, where Benedict stayed for five nights during the World Youth Day festival that drew more than 200,000 pilgrims to the city. The Pope's plane was due to leave Australia for Rome later Monday.

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said the Pope waited until the end of his visit to Australia to meet victims because he wanted to keep the abuse issue separate from World Youth Day, a six-day series of celebratory events designed to inspire a new generation of Christians.

In a final Mass Sunday under threatening skies, Benedict urged young Christians to be agents of change because "the world needs renewal."

"In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair," the Pontiff said.

The pope said it was up to a new generation of Christians to build a world in "which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished — not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed."

The Vatican said some 350,000 faithful from almost 170 countries packed the Randwick race track for the final Mass Sunday — many of them camping out in sleeping bags in the mild chill of the Australian winter — as well as a global television audience.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said it was Sydney's biggest crowd since the Olympic Games in 2000.


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Pope Benedict meets abuse victims
before flying out
Australian Associated Press
July 21, 2008


BEFORE flying out of Sydney Pope Benedict XVI met four victims of child sex abuse by members of the clergy in Australia.

WYD organisers and papal spokesman Father Frederico Lombardi said the pontiff celebrated Mass with the victims, listened to their ordeals and consoled them at St Mary's Cathedral in central Sydney about 8am (AEST) today.

"With regard to abuses by members of the clergy, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on Monday morning celebrated mass with a group of representatives of victims of sexual abuse," Lombardi said in a message to reporters in Australia.

The Pope on Saturday apologised for the sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy in Australia, saying he was "deeply sorry" for the pain and suffering victims had endured.

"These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation," the pontiff said.

"Those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice. It is an urgent priority to promote a safer and more wholesome environment, especially for young people."

Father Lombardi said: "The Pope listened to their stories and consoled them. He assured them of his spiritual proximity and proposed to continue to pray for them, for their families and for all victims."

The meeting came ahead of the Pope's departure from Australia.

Pope Benedict XVI was due to fly out of Sydney about 10am (AEST) today after thanking WYD volunteers at a ceremony in Sydney's Domain.


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Again, Benedict XVI is showing the way to everyone else in the Church. I was just thinking of his beautiful statements about prayer at the homily yesterday (including the simple statement "Let us continue praying for one another..." which sounds incredibly powerful to me), when the wire services came alive with the bulletin on his saying Mass for some of the victims and their representatives.

In Washington, he did not have a chance to say Mass for the victims but he prayed with them. Would it not help a lot if bishops and priests everywhere took the initiative to have prayer sessions and Masses with all those who have been victims or feel themselves aggrieved in any way for abusive and/or improper treatment by Catholic clergy?

There must be a way to do it as a gesture of good faith while more concrete actions are taken for redress where redress is due. What could be a more obvious and Christian action, after all, than to pray together before any undertaking - the more so when there is so much pain and bitterness to overcome. At such times, human compassion alone does not provide enough comfort, and we need the consolation of the Holy Spirit that can only come in prayer.

Somewhere, in the daily prayers said at Mass, there must be some provision for praying for the victims of abuse and injustice of any kind. Let every priest who says Mass silently add a specific prayer for the victims of sex offenses committed by their fellow priests.

EWTN is replaying its coverage of yesterday's Mass for the second time today, so I will have a third chance to experience that Mass.



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For the record, here is the press release from Fr. Lombardi on the Pope's meeting with some sex abuse victims - issued in Italian and in English - and a translation of his accompanying note.

---

PRESS RELEASE: MEETING OF THE HOLY FATHER
WITH A REPRESENTATIVE GROUP OF PERSONS
ABUSED BY MEMBERS OF THE CLERGY

As an expression of his ongoing pastoral concern for those who have been abused by members of the clergy, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI today celebrated Mass with a representative group of victims.

He listened to their stories and offered them consolation. Assuring them of his spiritual closeness, he promised to continue to pray for them, their families and all victims.

Through this paternal gesture, the Holy Father wished to demonstrate again his deep concern for all those who have suffered sexual abuse.


NOTE OF THE VATICAN PRESS OFFICE DIRECTOR
ON THE MEETING OF THE HOLY FATHER WITH
SOEM SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS

The meeting took place on the occasion of the celebration of Mass int eh small chapel of Ssydney's Cathedral House where the Pope resided these past few days. The Mass started at 7 a.m.

Present were two men and two women, and their companions, as well as a priest in charge of pastoral support.

Concelebrating Mass with the Pope were Cardinal George Pell, Mons. Fernando Filoni (Depuuty Secretary of Satte), and the Pope's two secretaries.

After the Mass, the guests were able to speak individually with the Pope who spoke to them with words of affection, participation and comfort.

The encounter ended shortly before 8 a.m. It took place in a climate of respect, spirituality and intense emotion.

As he did in the United States, the Holy Father wished to meet with some victims as a concrete gesture to express the sentiments he has manifested several times in his statements about the tragedy of sexual abuses committed by the cle3rgy.

In Australia, he wished to do this after the events of World Youth Day, which was the specific reason for his trip.

---

Don't forget you can always see the latest videoclips on the Holy Father here:
www.radiovaticana.org/it1/videonews_ita.asp

---

END OF AN APOSTOLIC VISIT
Monday, July 21

PROGRAM

07.00 Private Mass at the Chapel of St. Mary’s Cathedral House.

08.35 Farewell at St. Mary’s Cathedral House.

08.45 Travel by Popemobile from St. Mary’s Cathedral House to the 'Domain' of Sydney.

08.50 GREETING TO VOLUNTEER WORKERS FOR WYD 2008
- Address of the Holy Father.

09.10 Travel by car from the Domain to Sydney international airport.

09.30 DEPARTURE CEREMONY at Sydney international airport.
- Address by the Holy Father.

10.00 Departure from Sydney for Darwin airport.


DARWIN

13.50 Arrive at Darwin airport.
Technical stop.

15.05 Departure from Darwin airport for Rome (Ciampino).


I T A L Y

ROME (Ciampino)

23.00 Arrive at Ciampino airport.


Time difference:
Sydney is 10 hours ahead of Rome time
Darwin is 9.5 hours ahead.

---

Pope meets abuse victims,
thanks volunteers



About 7:00am (AEST), Pope Benedict met a small group of abuse victims in Sydney.

The Pope listened to the stories of the victims and offered them consolation during a Mass in the chapel of St Mary's Cathedral.

Before leaving Sydney's CBD for the airport, he thanked the thousands of World Youth Day volunteers for their help during the event.

The Pope told volunteers gathered at the Domain that the celebrations had been a wonderful experience to witness.

He expressed his "deep gratitude" not just to clergy but to teachers, host families, schools and parish communities.

"None of this would have been possible without a great deal of preparation and sheer hard work during the period leading up to World Youth Day," he said.

"I want to thank all of you for the generous amount of time and energy you have made in order to ensure the smooth running of each of the events."

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GUESS WHAT!!!
BUT ARE YOU REALLY SURPRISED????:
Pope meeting angers abuse activists


The Catholic Church has angered prominent sex abuse activists after they were left out of a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and a small group of abuse victims in Sydney this morning.

The Pope listened to the stories of the victims and offered them consolation during a Mass in the chapel of St Mary's Cathedral.

Melbourne couple Anthony and Christine Foster, whose two daughters were repeatedly raped by a Melbourne priest, say that neither they nor the victims group Broken Rites were told about or invited to the meeting.

"No we weren't aware of this meeting," Mr Foster told ABC Newsradio.

"There were some rumours yesterday and it seems to have been conducted without any knowledge of either ourselves or Broken Rites.

"Broken Rites, as a group representing victims, applied for a meeting with the Pope two months ago and have not had any response to that.

"We are very disappointed that people who I think the public have come to accept represent the views of victims have not been included in this meeting."

The Archdiocese of Sydney says its Professional Standards Office nominated three abuse representatives to be present at the mass, which was held ahead of the Pope's departure from World Youth Day events.

"It seems absolutely incredible that the Catholic Church would ignore the views of people who've been articulate in putting forward the needs and requirements of all victims and simply meet with a few victims who may well not be able to present the views of all victims," Mr Foster said.

"Its not realistic to meet all victims, no.

"But I think it would have been quite realistic to at least give us the courtesy of telling us whether he was going to meet with us or not, and to certainly listen to our views so that we could help the Church move forward.

"We want to see a strong united Church that can speak for all its members and the public and put forward views that are respected in the community.

"When this sort of thing happens, they can't be respected."

Chris MacIsaac from Broken Rites says her members are upset that they have missed out on meeting the Pope.

"There wouldn't be all this hullabulloo and people putting up their hands complaining if the process worked properly," she said.

"You can always select hand-picked people who are happy with something.

"Nothing's ever totally wrong or totally right. But if they want to fix this they must listen to the people who have grievance with it."


Apology welcomed

Meanwhile a man who allegedly suffered sexual abuse at a New South Wales north coast youth centre in the 1980s says he welcomes the apology which the Pope made to abuse victims on Saturday.

Mackay resident Eric Fleissig says he was abused on a regular basis by Father Paul Rex Brown at the Futcher House youth refuge in Tweed Heads between 1982 and 1985.

Father Brown died in 2005.

Mr Fleissig says while he wanted a face-to-face meeting with the Pope, the apology on behalf of the Catholic Church was a step in the right direction.

"Basically the core of the Church has apologised and recognised the wrongs of the past which will go towards healing for us victims," he said.

"But I am afraid that he's going to leave Australia with his apology and a lot more needs to be done."



Pope meets abuse victims
by Paola Totaro and Joel Gibson

July 21, 2008 - 10:37AM


Pope Benedict XVI conducted a Mass with four sexual abuse victims this morning, but the father of two other victims said he was "disgusted" to have been sidelined from the meeting.

Less than an hour before he was due to take off to return to Rome, the Pope officiated at the Mass at the chapel of St Mary's with a group representing victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy, World Youth Day organisers said.

The Pope listened to their harrowing stories, consoled them and assured them of his support and his continuing prayers for their friends and families of the victims, the organisers said.

Melbourne man Anthony Foster, whose two daughters were raped by a Catholic priest when they were in primary school, had returned from a holiday in Scotland last week to seek a meeting with the Pope about sexual abuse.

"I'm happy for the people who did meet him, if it helped them. But I think [the church] has lost an opportunity to speak to people like us and Broken Rites [support group] who truly represent the needs of all victims." [How presumptuous! This issue has become a 'vanity case' for people like the Fosters and Broken Rites, sadly.]

He was at the airport this morning in a last-ditch attempt to give the Pope his suggestions for improving the church's response to survivors of abuse.

Mr Foster said the last-minute meeting with the as-yet unnamed victims was "sneaky, underhanded and disappointing" and was designed as a PR stunt. [Look who's talking about 'PR stunts'!]

"Where is the care and compassion he spoke about on Saturday?" he said.

"No doubt they will say these victims want to maintain their privacy."

Mr Foster and his wife, Christine, believe the church's handling of the issue contributed to the suicide in January of their daughter Emma, 26.


Pope flies out

The Pope also went to The Domain to thank volunteers who had helped make World Youth Day a success.

Before leaving Sydney after the longest foreign trip of his papacy, he thanked Sydneysiders for opening their hearts and homes to World Youth Day pilgrims.

"I ask God to look down lovingly on this city, this country and its inhabitants," he said.

"May God bless the people of Australia."

The Pope then strode up the stairs of the 747 Qantas jet, waved with both hands, turned on his heel and disappeared into the plane.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was among the dignitaries to farewell the Pope at the domestic Qantas hangar.

After his week-long visit, Mr Rudd said the Pope was "one with us, and indeed one of us".

"Hard-bitten Sydney" had taken the Pope and pilgrims to their hearts, he said.

The Prime Minister applauded the Pope's message of care for the environment and healing to the victims of abuse.

He used the Pope's public farewell to announce that former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer would be appointed as the first resident ambassador to the Holy See and introduced Mr Fischer to the Pope on the podium.

Shortly after 10am his Qantas plane bearing the Vatican and Australian flags at the cockpit, began to taxi across the tarmac for its journey back to Rome.

Sydney archdiocese expresses delight

In a statement, the Sydney archdiocese said it was "delighted" the Pope had met the victims nominated by the church's Professional Standards Office.

"The Holy Father's meeting with victims reflects the continuing commitment of the whole church in Australia to bring healing and justice to those who have been so terribly hurt by sexual abuse," it said.

The Archdiocese of Sydney said the private meeting was organised "late in our preparations".

With this gesture, the organisers said the Pope wanted to demonstrate once more his support and sorrow for all those who have been sexually abused around the world at the hands of Catholic priests.

The news of his last-minute gesture was disseminated to the Vatican press corp as they were on a bus on their way to board the flight back to Rome.

The gesture concludes a hugely successful trip for the Pope. It was clearly an unscheduled Mass - but one that can only add to the successful reading of his Australian trip.

The organisers said the Pope celebrated the Mass with four victims - two men and two women - and their supporters.

It was held in a tiny chapel of the chapter house in St Mary's. It began at 7am and ended at 8am. The Pope was helped in the Mass by Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop Fernando Filoni and two Vatican secretaries.

At the end of the Mass, the victims were able to speak directly to the Pope, who comforted them with words of affection, the organisers said.

The Pope's spokesman said the Mass unfolded in a climate of respect, spirituality and an "intense emotions".

As happened in the United States, the Pope said he wanted to meet victims as a tangible gesture and to express his sadness and apologies directly.

He said he chose to do so after World Youth Day celebrations had ended to ensure that the meeting did not overshadow the pilgrimage.

Don't forget you can always see the latest videoclips on the Holy Father here:
www.radiovaticana.org/it1/videonews_ita.asp


POPE BENEDICT XVI THANKS
WYD VOLUNTEERS
BEFORE LEAVING SYDNEY

















This morning, after having celebrated Holy Mass in private atthe Chapel, the Holy Father Benedict XVI bade farewell to thestaff of St. Mary's Cathedral House and traelled bycar to the Domain, a nearby public park, where around 9 a.m., the Pope met withsome 12,000 volunteers who had worked for World Youth Day 2008.

After an introduction by Mons. Anthony Fisher, Bishop Coordiantor of WYD08, and Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, the Holy Father delivered the following address::

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ADDRESS TO WYD08 VOLUNTEERS

Dear Friends in Christ,

I thank Bishop Fisher and Cardinal Pell for their kind words and I am pleased to have this opportunity to bid farewell to all of you and to say what a wonderful experience this week has been.

During these days we have been able to witness at first hand the joy that so many thousands of young people find in their faith, and we have been able to offer praise and thanksgiving to God for his goodness to us.

We have had a taste of the warmth and generosity of Australian hospitality, and we have glimpsed something of the glorious scenery of this beautiful continent. It has truly been a week to remember.

None of this would have been possible, though, without a great deal of preparation and sheer hard work during the period leading up to World Youth Day.

I want to thank all of you for the generous commitment of time and energy you have made, in order to ensure the smooth running of each of the events we have celebrated together. They have all required careful coordination, involving civil authorities, police and first aid agencies, as well as church personnel and a vast array of volunteers, marshals and stewards.

Your efforts have prepared the ground for the Spirit to come down in power, forging bonds of unity and friendship among young people from widely differing backgrounds, and rekindling their love for Jesus Christ and his Church.

In the crowds that have assembled here in Sydney we have seen a vivid expression of the unity-in-diversity of the universal Church, a vision in microcosm of the united human family that we long to see. In the power of the Spirit, may these young people make that vision a reality in the world of tomorrow.

I shall have an opportunity at the airport to thank the representatives of the civil authorities. Here I want to express my deep gratitude to all the bishops, priests, men and women religious, chaplains, teachers, lay associations, ecclesial movements, host families, schools and parish communities who have given so much to make World Youth Day a success.

I thank particularly Bishop Anthony Fisher and Mr Danny Casey, who have worked so hard to coordinate all the different activities. We read in the Acts of the Apostles that "it is more blessed to give than to receive" (20:35) – but I trust that you will nevertheless have received much from those you have served so generously in the course of our celebrations. To all of you, I say a sincere and heartfelt "thank you".

As I set off on my journey back to Rome, I shall treasure the memory of the many grace-filled events we have experienced together: from my first encounter with the young people at Barangaroo, through the meetings at Darlinghurst and Saint Mary’s Cathedral, to the Youth Vigil at Southern Cross Precinct and the Final Mass there yesterday.

I pray that you too will take many precious memories and spiritual insights away with you, and will return to your homes and families with fresh zeal to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the power of the Spirit, go forth now to renew the face of the earth!

As I bid you a fond farewell, I commend all of you to the loving intercession of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Help of Christians, I invoke upon you the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, and I assure you of my continued prayers.

God bless the young people of our world and God bless the people of Australia!

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Don't forget you can always see the latest videoclips on the Holy Father here:
www.radiovaticana.org/it1/videonews_ita.asp


Pope draws biggest crowd
Australia has seen
by Barney Zwartz and Annabel Stafford

July 21, 2008





THE biggest crowd Australia has seen celebrated Mass with the Pope in Sydney yesterday.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims camped like a huge medieval army under the floating banners of their nations and their saints.

There were more than 400,000 at Randwick Racecourse — fewer than organisers hoped for, but still they stretched to the horizon to wind up the five-day World Youth Day festival, in an outpouring organisers said indicated Australia was more spiritual than most people thought.

After the Mass, papal media director Federico Lombardi suggested Pope Benedict might yet make an 11th-hour visit to victims of sexual abuse by priests, despite a tight itinerary.

At the same time, Bishop Anthony Fisher — whose criticism of people he said dwelled "crankily on old wounds" sparked outrage last week — apologised, and said he did not mean victims of abuse.

The Mass was held under a menacing sky after a week of gloriously sunny winter days.

But shivering pilgrims — some 250,000 had spent the night at the racecourse in a pre-Mass vigil — shook off their weariness to welcome the Pope in his long, looping journey around the racecourse in the Popemobile. Some of them had slept a little, wrapping the silver heat packs that came in their pilgrim backpacks around their bodies or under parkas and sleeping bags.

Then there were those who slept amid the detritus of the night before, and perhaps dreamed of the next World Youth Day, in 2011. Petra Putz, 32, of Austria, had managed to doze. "But people kept on singing all night," she complained. A couple of hundred metres away, a 19-year-old Iraqi Australian, Salar Tobya, was losing his voice after a night of singing and shouting but still had enough energy to wave an Iraqi flag. "It was awesome," he said.

At the Missionaries of Charity, some were still lining up for confession just before the Mass in queues that rivalled the lines waiting for the rows of makeshift toilets.

Others knelt or sat as they prayed. When the Pope arrived, pilgrims ran to the barricades, lining up to 10 deep in the hope of catching a glimpse. Some handed up babies to be blessed.

On the giant platform, the Pope joined 26 cardinals, 420 bishops, the 300-strong choir and an orchestra of 80 to celebrate the Mass with Sydney Archbishop George Pell.

Highlights were the arrival of the Gospel, brought by a singing, dancing group of Fijians, and singing of the Mass by Amelia Farrugia and Andrew Goodwin.

Having concentrated on encouragement in his first seven speeches, the Pope used his last to challenge pilgrims to make a difference in a world that wanted to forget God or rejected him. He invited them to consider a religious vocation as priest or nun. "What will you leave to the next generation?" he asked. "Are you building your lives on firm foundations, building something that will endure? What legacy will you leave to young people yet to come?"

He said a new generation was being challenged to help build a world in which God's gift of life was welcomed, respected and cherished, not rejected, feared and destroyed.

A new age, he said "in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, seeking their good radiating joy and beauty".

He repeated his message about the barrenness of secularism, saying that in many societies, "side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair."

People were searching for the ultimate meaning that only love could provide.

After the homily, Clara Fernandez, 14, "from Sydney and Spain", declared she planned to pray every single day.

Her friend Joaquin Vazquez, 13, said seeing the Pope was like seeing "Jesus Christ on earth … for a couple of seconds".

In his introduction, Cardinal Pell said World Youth Day showed the church as it truly was: "Alive with evangelical energy. We look out on this vast congregation and see that … the church is alive, and the church is young."

At a conference after the Mass, Bishop Fisher said Sydney had been "struck by a tsunami of faith and joy", and thanked the city for opening "its roads, its homes, its bridge, its arms and its hearts to the young people of the world".

On the abuse furore, he said: "I was commenting on a few people in the media who I thought were cranky in their reporting on the issue of sexual abuse and World Youth Day. I certainly wasn't intending in any way to make remarks about the victims themselves."



An inspirational triumph of faith
by Barney Zwartz

July 21, 2008


"A TSUNAMI of faith and joy" was how World Youth Day co-ordinator Bishop Anthony Fisher described the festival of youth and religion that ends today with Pope Benedict's departure on a Qantas plane for Rome.

One might pardon a touch of hyperbole from a tired but exultant Bishop Fisher, who has spent much of the past few days at the Pope's side. But by any measure, World Youth Day has been a triumph.

The pilgrims had a wonderful and spiritually uplifting experience. The sun shone, a city that in the lead-up gave every impression of being a curmudgeonly and complaining host discovered the delights of hospitality, the pilgrims walked and the traffic flowed, and the logistical nightmare actually ran like a dream, with the help of 8000 volunteers.

Religion has been on the front pages all week, and mostly for the right reasons. Despite an influx of some 200,000 young people, no one got drunk and there were no fights — itself a minor miracle.

It all culminated in yesterday's papal Mass, purportedly Australia's largest-ever gathering.

Of course, it's particularly about the Pope and, while Benedict XVI is no John Paul II, he understands the power and mystique of his office.

It took until almost the last moment of the five-day World Youth Day festival, but his human side did emerge. [What a silly statement! What did he show before then? His inhuman side? Did he ever act other than very human all throughout - even at the most solemn moments, when he exemplifies par excellence human awe and humility before God!]

Having announced Madrid as host for the 2011 event, watching the wild celebration of the Spanish contingent, he burst into delighted laughter.

He might be a very short man in funny clothes, who speaks with a thick German accent, but the pilgrims warmed to his humility and sincerity. [He is not 'very short' - John Paul II was the same height!]

Nobody does pomp and ceremony better than the Catholic Church, and the World Youth Day combination of ancient ceremony and Pentecostal-style effervescence seemed to work. It was remarkable how silent and reverent 250,000 people could be at key moments.

But the whole event was heavily scripted [Yes, and the screenplay is called the Gospel, and it's been around for two millennia!] and micro-managed, and rather Sydney-centric. [How could it be otherwise? It is specifically Sydney's World Youth Day, not Melbourne's or Adelaide's or Australia's! The past 12 months until July 15, the Church spread out the WYD activities throughout Australia, but WYD week itself was Sydney's.]

It also typified a high Catholicism with which many Catholics are uncomfortable. [They have to know that 'low Catholicism' is not Catholicism at all!]

While many pilgrims will return to their parishes energetic and enthused, the church must work to ensure this is more than an edifying diversion. All the challenges remain.





Tim Drake at the NCR blog gives his readers an idea of the post-WYD coverage in the Australian Monday papers.


This Morning's Headlines
Posted by Tim Drake

July 21, 2008


It's Monday morning here in Australia, the day of the Pope's departure. The headlines this morning are overwhelmingly positive.

The major photo on the front of two of the Australian dailies shows Pope Benedict XVI kissing nine-month old baby Tumi Le from Cabramatta, a descendant of Vietnamese Saint Joseph Luu, who died in 1854 after being tortured for a year for refusing to renounce his Catholic faith. Luu was canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.


This photo shows another baby the Pope kissed yesterday.

The newspapers are all using the figure of 400,000 attendance for yesterday's final Mass.

One of the touching stories I read in this morning's The Daily Telegraph came from a Sydney bus driver, Andrew Soulis, with the State Transit Authority of New South Wales. On Friday night, after brining pilgrims to Central railway station, Soulis was instructed to go back to the bus depot. On the way, he noticed large groups of pilgrims, including a group of shivering nuns, near the Central railway station. He offered to drive them to where they needed to go. Along the way, he picked up more and more pilgrims until his bus was full.

Along the way, a young woman approached Soulis and said: "For your kind generosity of getting us out of the cold and making sure we get home, all of us would like to present you with a little gift to show our appreciation - we have all chipped in."

Soulis said that he nearly broke down in tears.

When he returned to the depot, he looked inside the package. It contained chocolate bars, a bottle of water, scarves, bandannas from Texas, an apple, an orange, a banana, Australian souvenirs, a bag of chips, a key ring from Texas, a McDonald's food voucher, and more.

"Here we have pilgrims who have worked two and three jobs to muster the money to come here to see the Holy Father," wrote Soulis. "They give the shirt off their back by giving their food voucher away as a gift to a bus driver who was concerned for them. What a wonderful group of people these pilgrims are. These sentiments are shared with every other driver I have spoken to over the past couple of days....I wish they could all return soon. God bless the pilgrims in Sydney."

He then enumerates some of the headlines from the Sydney papers - we pretty much have them all in the round-ups I've posted. He also posts another aerial panorama of Randwick:.



Then, he gives us an idea of pilgrim fare....

The food being served is always a big question for pilgrims. For the most part this year, most of the comments I heard from pilgrims were fairly positive. I heard some complaints about the chicken stew, the can of cold bean in tomato sauce, and canned tuna, but overall pilgrims seemed pleased by what they had to eat during WYD.



It's all part of the pilgrim experience. Here, pilgrim Nathan Heroux, of Avon, Minn. displays the contents of his breakfast box. When the pilgrims entered Randwick, they were given their dinner, breakfast, and lunch for their time at Randwick.

You can see that the box contains some yogurt, a can of tuna, another can of mixed vegetables and meat, and some candy bars. Pilgrims also received buns. After the prayer vigil, pilgrims could warm up with some hot chocolate or broth being served on-site.





The folks at the CNS WYD blog offer some early post-scripts to a memorable week:


The Morning After
Posted on July 20, 2008
by Chris Valka, CSB
]




Pope Benedict XVI makes his way up the altar during the final mass

The people of Sydney are now returning to the normal routines, but that does not mean that things are the same as they were before. While there are still pilgrims walking the streets, and roads still remain closed around the Cathedral, WYD has come and gone leaving an indelible mark on Sydney.

WYD08 is a conversion story — not simply for pilgrims, but for all who witnessed it. How very appropriate the theme for WYD08 has been as the people of Sydney have found new reasons for hope and joy because of the power they have witnessed.

Reporters, headlines and personal remarks all speak of the before and after: cynicism and hope; disillusionment and transformation; negativity and optimism.
Everyone has been a part of WYD here, regardless if they did or did not register or even attended an event; and it is sure to be the topic of conversation for many months to come.

“The final Mass was very beautiful. I am Catholic, but if I was not Catholic or even Christian, I think I would be after that Mass. To see so many young people, at one point so quiet in prayer — how can you ignore God or your faith after that,” said the cab driver who brought me home this morning.

My own experience of WYD has been extraordinary — all four months of it. Like so many of us, I will be processing the moments for months to come.

Communion with the Cardinal at the opening mass, the unbelievable success of the Vocations Expo, MC-ing the Papal boat on Super Thursday, meeting and speaking with the Holy Father, the prayer and joy of the vigil, the beautiful words of Pope Benedict at the final Mass and the many, many wonderful moments with pilgrims and friends during the week all stand out as momentous highlights. Truly my perspective was a unique and privileged one.

After the final Mass, the staff of WYD08 was granted a special intimate audience with the Holy Father during which he, Bishop Anthony, Cardinal Pell and the WYD CEO Danny Casey each expressed their heartfelt gratitude.

Both Cardinal Pell and Bishop Anthony seemed nearly moved to tears as they presented us to the Holy Father, as I imagine a father would present their children; for indeed, we have become family, sharing a perspective and an experience of service most likely unmatched by anything else in our lives.

As I write this, I wonder if this is the legacy WYD08 will leave in my own life — an extraordinary confirmation of the joy that comes through service to others.

WYD has demanded every ounce of energy, fight, determination, resolute, and optimism that I could muster, and to extent that I have poured myself out, I have been filled with a joy and hope ten times over.

As for what happens now? The clean-up begins and, at least for me, lasts for ten days before I go on vacation/retreat. Afterwards, I profess final vows, move to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where I will be ordained a deacon and priest while serving as a Chaplain at New Mexico State University.

Though life will never be quite the same after this experience, I look forward this new ministry — something a little more local and a lot smaller! However, I don’t imagine the work will be any less intense or difficult. Seeds that are planted do not grow without careful cultivation.

For each of us who have experienced the intense grace of WYD08, we are now called salt and light for the world; to be witnesses to what we have seen and heard; and to be a conduit of the power supplied by the Holy Spirit to our local parishes and communities. For this, I ask your continued prayers — for all of us!

Many blessings, many thanks, and one last final G’Day!





Sore feet, soaring hearts
Posted on July 20, 2008
by Anna Weaver




Hawaii pilgrims at the end of Mass, July 20, at Randwick Racecourse.


Darling Harbor is still tonight compared with the noisy, cheerful sounds of the crowds that filled the area throughout this past week.

You can still see the occasional cluster of pilgrims walking about, the empty medical and food tents, and the light and stage set-ups leftover from concerts, but it’s nothing like a day or two ago.

I’m sure Randwick Racecourse looks even more barren, and I have that withdrawal feeling you get when your days have been filled with one, all-consuming thing and suddenly it’s gone.

But even though there are far fewer pilgrims walking around with flags, wearing their bright orange and pink World Youth Day backpacks and chanting “Benedicto,” I think those now-scattering pilgrims have taken with them the spirit and encouragement that WYD and Pope Benedict XVI strove to instill in them this past week.

If sore feet are any indicator of the World Youth Day effect, than it’s certainly impacted me. Most of my Hawaii pilgrim group left at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning to walk across the Sydney Harbor Bridge to the Domain, where the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops sponsored a Mass and gathering for all U.S. pilgrims. I met them there and we and other dioceses got to “claim” our bishops at the end of Mass for a quick chat. Then we were on the move.

We made the pilgrim walk to Randwick Racecourse by about 2 p.m., most of us lugging sleeping bags, mats and warm clothes for our outdoor sleepover, and with aching feet and backs found our assigned camp-out spot.

The pre-Vigil concerts, particularly the Matt Maher Band (I’ve still got “Your Grace Is Enough” stuck in my head), got us pumped for the evening.

During the vigil with Pope Benedict, the racecourse shone with the light of pilgrims’ candles and their own impassioned hearts. The pilgrims kept up their spirits despite the freezing nighttime weather.

I was up between 12 and 4 a.m. and there were groups dancing and singing — some chanting, “Pilgrims wake up!” — and a full adoration and reconciliation tent even at those late hours. Soup and hot chocolate were hot commodities at the food booths and Randwick was a sea of Mylar blankets, sleeping bags and tents.

We woke to a cloudy but warmer day. My group once again was lucky enough to be situated close to the popemobile’s route, this time on the dirt course around Randwick, which it circled twice before heading to the altar for Mass.

It was neat to see all the people that came for Mass with Pope Benedict and I talked with two Italian expatriates, Leo and Giuseppe, who had come in particular to Randwick to share in the Catholic unity and see the Pope. A highlight of the Mass was seeing on the jumbotron the luminous faces of 24 young people as they were confirmed by the Pope.

When the Holy Father announced that Madrid would host the next World Youth Day in 2011, I thought ahead to three years from now. Where will I be? Will I once again travel to a place that is transformed into the world center for Catholic youth for one unforgettable week?

While I don’t know the answer to that, I do know that I feel ever so blessed to have participated in World Youth Day as both a journalist and a pilgrim and to have been able to share it with others through this blog.

Don't forget you can always see the latest videoclips on the Holy Father here:
www.radiovaticana.org/it1/videonews_ita.asp


THE HOLY FATHER
IS ON HIS WAY
BACK TO ROME





Prime Minister Kevin Rudd sees the Pope off, and introduces Australia's first resident ambasssador to the Holy See, former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fisher.




After meeting with the WYD volunteers at the Domain, the Holy Father travelled by car to Sydney International Airport, where a departure ceremony was held.

At 9:30 a.m., the Holy Father was welcomed by the Governor-General, Michael Jeffery; the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd; and civic leaders of New South Wales.

Also present were the president of the Australian bishops confernce, Archbishop Philip Edward Wilson; the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell; the president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, and the Council Secretary, Mons. Josef Clemens; WYD coordinator Bishop Anthony Fisher; the auxiliary bishops of Sydney, and other Australian bishops.

After remarks by Prime Minister Rudd, the Pope delivered the following brief address:

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DEPARTURE ADDRESS
Sydney International Airport

Dear Friends,

Before I take my leave, I wish to say to my hosts how much I have enjoyed my visit here and how grateful I am for your hospitality.

I thank the Prime Minister, the Honourable Kevin Rudd, for the kindness he has shown to me and to all the participants at World Youth Day.

I also thank the Governor-General, Major-General Michael Jeffery, for his presence here and for graciously receiving me at Admiralty House at the start of my public engagements.

The Federal Government and the State Government of New South Wales, as well as the residents and the business community of Sydney, have been most cooperative in their support of World Youth Day.

An event of this kind requires an immense amount of preparation and organization, and I know that I speak on behalf of many thousands of young people when I express my appreciation and gratitude to you all.

In characteristic Australian style, you have extended a warm welcome to me and to countless young pilgrims who have flocked here from every corner of the globe.

To the host families in Australia and New Zealand who have made room for the young people in their homes, I am especially grateful. You have opened your doors and your hearts to the world’s youth, and on their behalf I thank you.

The principal actors on the stage over these last few days, of course, have been the young people themselves. World Youth Day is their day. It is they who have made this a global ecclesial event, a great celebration of youth and a great celebration of what it is to be the Church, the people of God throughout the world, united in faith and love and empowered by the Spirit to bear witness to the risen Christ to the ends of the earth.

I thank them for coming, I thank them for their participation, and I pray that they will have a safe journey home. I know that the young people, their families and their sponsors have in many cases made great sacrifices to enable them to travel to Australia. For this the entire Church is grateful.

As I look back over these stirring days, there are many scenes that stand out in my mind.

I was deeply moved by my visit to the Mary MacKillop Memorial, and I thank the Sisters of Saint Joseph for the opportunity to pray at the Shrine of their Co-Foundress.

The Stations of the Cross in the streets of Sydney were a powerful reminder that Christ loved us "to the end" and shared our sufferings so that we could share his glory.

The meeting with the young people at Darlinghurst was a moment of joy and great hope, a sign that Christ can lift us out of the most difficult situations, restoring our dignity and enabling us to look forward to a brighter future.

The meeting with ecumenical and interreligious leaders was marked by a spirit of genuine fraternity and a deep desire for greater collaboration in building a more just and peaceful world.

And without doubt, the gatherings at Barangaroo and Southern Cross were high-points of my visit. Those experiences of prayer, and our joyful celebration of the Eucharist, were an eloquent testimony to the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit, present and active in the hearts of our young people.

World Youth Day has shown us that the Church can rejoice in the young people of today and be filled with hope for the world of tomorrow.

Dear friends, as I depart from Sydney, I ask God to look down lovingly upon this city, this country and all its inhabitants.

I pray that many of their number will be inspired by Blessed Mary MacKillop’s example of compassion and service. And as I bid you farewell with deep gratitude in my heart, I say once again: May God bless the people of Australia!

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At 10 a.m. Sydney time (2 a.m. in Rome), the Holy Father and his party left Sydney on board a Qantas B747. A technical stop for crew change and refuelling was scehduled to be made in Darwin, northern Australia.

The flight will resume nonstop to Rome at 3 p.m. Darwin time, and is expected to arrive in Ciampino airport in Rome at 11 p.m. Monday, Rome time.

On leaving Australian air space, the Holy Father sent the following telegram to the Australian Governor-General:

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HIS EXCELLENCY MAJ.-GEN. MICHAEL JEFFERY
GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
CANBERRA

AT THE CONCLUSION OF MY PASTORAL VISIT TO AUSTRALIA FOR THE CELEBRATION OF WORLD YOUTH DAY, I OFFER HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU AND YOUR FELLOW CITIZENS FOR YOUR KIND RECEPTION AND READY ASSISTANCE DURING MY STAY, AND I ASSURE YOU OF MY PRAYERS THAT ALMIGHTY GOD WILL EVER GUIDE YOUR NATION IN THE WAY OF PROSPERITY AND PEACE. UPON ALL THE BELOVED AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE I CORDIALLY INVOKE AN ABUNDANCE OF DIVINE BLESSINGS.

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

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'You've become one of us':
Rudd farewells Pope


Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Governor-General Michael Jeffery have farewelled the Pope at Sydney Airport, after the pontiff's eight-day stay in Australia for World Youth Day.

Pope Benedict was applauded as he entered the hangar, where he gave his final speech in Australia, thanking everyone who worked on World Youth Day and blessing all Australians.

Mr Rudd and the newly announced ambassador to the Holy See, former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, were among dignitaries at the airport to see him off.

"In that week, your Holiness, it feels very much that you have already become one with us, indeed, that you have become one of us," Mr Rudd said.

The Prime Minister also announced former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer would be the next ambassador to the Holy See.

The 62-year-old former Nationals leader served in both the New South Wales and Federal parliaments, including six years as deputy prime minister.

Mr Fischer will be Australia's first resident ambassador to the Holy See since 1973, when former prime minister Gough Whitlam established diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

He was introduced to the Pope before the Pontiff left Australia.

Mr Rudd said Australia would be the 70th nation with a resident ambassador at the Vatican.

"Your Holiness, I am confident that Mr Fischer, Ambassador Fischer as he will be, will discharge this position with dignity and enable Australia and the Holy See to be able to work together on the great challenges we face in the world," he said.

"On human rights, including religious and political freedom across the world, on poverty, on food security, on international humanitarian relief, on peace, arms control and disarmament, on the great challenge of climate change and the other great debates affecting the future of our planet."

The 81-year-old pontiff is flying home in a chartered Qantas jet, which will stop briefly in Darwin before the flight back to Rome




Pope Benedict XVI thanks Sydney


July 21, 2008 10:44am


POPE Benedict XVI has boarded a Qantas flight for his flight back to Rome after eight memorable days in Sydney for World Youth Day.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd used the farewell to announce that former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer would become Australia's first resident ambassador to the Holy See.

Before he left the country, the Pope blessed Sydney and thanked the city for participating in what is believed to be the biggest gathering of Catholic youth.

"As I look back over the past few days there were many things that stand out in my mind," he said at Sydney airport this morning.

"I was deeply moved by my visit to the Mary MacKillop memorial.

"The Stations of the Cross in the city of Sydney were a powerful reminder that Christ loved us to the end.

"I now, on behalf of many thousands of young people, I express my appreciation and gratitude to you all.

"To the families in Australia and New Zealand that made room for young people into their homes I am especially grateful."

Surely I wasn't the only person to notice this: a quite large "hole" on the left shoulder of Papa's chasuble. It looked to me like a burn hole rather than a mark. I noticed it towards the end of the Mass. This morning I was able to find a photo that shows it quite clearly. Do you think he got too close to one of the candles? I do hope someone else noticed it!!!!!

I noticed the mark (burn-hole) too, maryjos. It was on his chasuable all through the Mass, even before he got to the altar.

maryjos, 21.07.2008 14:01:

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Surely I wasn't the only person to notice this: a quite large "hole" on the left shoulder of Papa's chasuble. It looked to me like a burn hole rather than a mark. I noticed it towards the end of the Mass. This morning I was able to find a photo that shows it quite clearly. Do you think he got too close to one of the candles? I do hope someone else noticed it!!!!!

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Mary,I did notice it too. On this pic you can see it quite well. Here, it looks like a mark rather than a hole...

www.daylife.com/photo/04K3aaB79j86s/benedict_xvi