2008 World Youth Day Brings Together Largest Crowd in Australian History

SYDNEY, July 22, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI's weeklong trip to Sydney Australia for the 2008 World Youth Day ended spectacularly on Sunday with a mass attended by some 400,000 pilgrims at Randwick Racecourse and Centennial Park, making it the largest gathering in Australian history.

Similar numbers of pilgrims, both international and local, attended many of the central events throughout the week. It was estimated that in excess of half a million pilgrims and locals came out to welcome Benedict XVI on Thursday 17 July for his official arrival on boat-a-cade and motorcade at Barangaroo.

The final tally reveals that 110,000 international pilgrims, representing 170 countries, converged on Sydney for the global Catholic youth event. Another 113,000 local pilgrims officially took part in WYD08.

The record for World Youth Day attendance, however, is still held by the Philippines, where, in 1995, an estimated 4,000,000 people attended the concluding Mass.

WYD08 Coordinator Bishop Anthony Fisher OP said on Monday, the day of the Holy Father's departure, "Although only a week in duration, World Youth Day will resonate in Australian hearts for a long time to come and will forever be remembered in the lives of the young pilgrims."

The next World Youth Day is set to take place in Madrid, Spain, in 2011.

Despite the massive crowds at WYD08 reports reveal that the week's events were often characterized by an emphasis on silence and prayerfulness.

At the concluding Mass the Holy Father repeated and built upon many of the same themes that formed the basis of his talks and homilies throughout the week - most especially his exhortation to the youth to pursue a life of holiness characterized by a deep prayerfulness.

"God's love," Pope Benedict told the pilgrims, "can only unleash its power when it is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it break through the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires."

He continued, "That is why prayer is so important: daily prayer, private prayer in the quiet of our hearts and before the Blessed Sacrament, and liturgical prayer in the heart of the Church. Prayer is pure receptivity to God's grace, love in action, communion with the Spirit who dwells within us, leading us, through Jesus, in the Church, to our heavenly Father." MORE
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