Cardinal Pell Celebrates World Youth Day Opening Mass

A variety of activities took place on July 15, 2008, local time, opening day of the six-day World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney.

Highlight of the day and early evening was the Opening Mass celebrated by Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, just after 4.30 in the afternoon.

Before the start of the opening Mass, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd welcomed the pilgrims, who had come from various parts of the world, in their native tongue.

The Opening Mass took place at The Hungry Mile, a name sometimes interchangeably used with the parkland area of Barangaroo, formerly known as East Darling Harbour, north of King St Wharf.

Flags of the more than 170 nations with pilgrims attending World Youth Day in Sydney were carried through the Mass crowd by members of the International Liturgy Group.

Young indigenous Catholics — Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander — welcomed the pilgrims with a traditional performance.

Some 40 cardinals and 400 bishops were reported to have been in attendance at the Mass together with a crowd of worshippers estimated at around 150,000 people.

With a number of Sydney city streets closed to vehicular traffic, many of those attending Mass walked to the Barangaroo site from city train stations, particularly those on the City Circle route with stops at Town Hall, Wynyard and Circular Quay.

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Photo: Cardinal George Pell celebrating World Youth Day Opening Mass © WYD 2008