Sydney transformed by young Catholic pilgrims

By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - About 150,000 young pilgrims attended mass on the shores of Sydney Harbor on Tuesday for the Catholic church's biggest youth festival, but protesters plan to rally against Pope Benedict ahead of his outdoor mass on Sunday.

"Too often in the history of the world when young people travel in great numbers to other parts of the world they do so in the cause of war, but you are here as pilgrims of peace," Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Tuesday.

"Some say there is no place for faith in the 21st century, I say they are wrong. You are the light of the world at a time when the world has so much darkness," said Rudd, a practicing Catholic, in welcoming the pilgrims ahead of the mass.

More than 250,000 young Catholics from 176 countries have arrived in Sydney for World Youth Day (WYD), July 15-20, holding not only crucifixes, rosaries and bibles, but national flags draped over their shoulders and guitars.

The Catholic church hopes WYD 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.

"Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Fathers supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI," read the first of the Pope's daily text messages which will be sent out during World Youth Day.

The Pope has said he will apologize during his visit to Australian victims of sexual abuse in the church. Broken Rites, which represents abuse victims, has a list of 107 convictions for church abuse, but says there may be thousands more victims.

SYDNEY TRANSFORMED

Sydney has sometimes been called Australia's Sin City; it has the world's biggest gay and lesbian mardi gras and the country's most notorious redlight district, Kings Cross. But this week Sydney has been swept by a wave of goodness and Christianity.

George Street in the city centre is normally a noisy, congested and stressed-out thoroughfare at lunchtime, but on Tuesday the strip was calm, filled with the sound of hymns and the strumming of guitars and rattling of tambourines.

Thousands of pilgrims walked down George Street, one of 300 streets closed in an Olympic-style security operation. Like fans from rival football teams, each time different national groups met they tried to out sing each other.

"We're singing about how we feel in our heart. We have met a lot of people and have been talking about what Jesus Christ has meant to our lives," said Brazilian pilgrim Rudimar Gouveia.

Australian pilgrim Nazareth Atielza said WYD had transformed the city. "The atmosphere is so much more positive than it was before. On a normal day everyone is busy keeping to themselves but today everyone is saying hi to strangers," said Atielza.

Reflecting the religious fervor in Sydney, "Ratzinger Rules" was spray painted on a war memorial overnight. Josef Ratzinger is the birth name of Pope Benedict. But despite the influx of Catholic pilgrims, Sydney's darker side remained not far from the surface. A Sydney brothel welcomed pilgrims, urging "potential sinners to commit their sins" before the Pope leaves Australia. The brothel offered a 10 percent discount to anyone with a WYD accreditation card.

Australia is a secular society where the Catholic church is struggling to attract worshippers. About 5 million Australians are Catholic, but less than one million attend Sunday mass.