SYDNEY — World Youth Day, the event the Roman Catholic church describes as the largest gathering of young people on the planet, began Tuesday, with 100,000 people attending a mass on a disused wharf overlooking the sparkling waters of Sydney harbor.
It was the formal beginning of six days of celebrations which will culminate on Sunday with a Mass celebrated by
Pope Benedict XVI before a predicted 500,000 worshipers.
Like many mainstream Christian denominations, Roman Catholicism is struggling to maintain its following.
Young people are at the center of the battle.
“Many young people today lack hope,” the pope said last week. “They are perplexed by the questions that present themselves ever more urgently in a confusing world, and they are often uncertain which way to turn for answers.”
But the pope believes that those gathered in Sydney could be part of the solution, and that World Youth Day can be a point of renewal.
“It is my firm belief that young people are called to be instruments of that renewal, communicating to their peers the joy they have experienced through knowing and following Christ,” he said.
The 81-year-old pope arrived in
Australia on Sunday, but will not formally join the celebrations until Thursday.
For days, Sydney has been crowded with pilgrims from all over the world, moving around in happy groups, identifiable by the yellow, orange and red backpacks that they have been given.
It has been a formidable logistics operation. Thousands of young pilgrims are sleeping in sports halls, churches and schools across the city.
And the event has found some unusual supporters - 282 pilgrims from Argentina, Brazil, and the United States are sleeping at the Malek Fahd Islamic School in a suburb of Sydney.
“This was a good opportunity to extend our hand in friendship and break down the barriers and misunderstandings between religions,” said Pinad El-Ahmad, who is in charge of inter-religious activities at the school.
“Hospitality is part of our Islamic teaching. We know that the Prophet opened his house and mosque to non-Muslims, and so it is only right that we should do the same,” she said.
Preparations for World Youth Day have not been without controversy.
In an attempt to ensure that the event ran smoothly, the state government in New South Wales passed a law banning people from “annoying” pilgrims, sparking protests that it was an infringement on civil liberties.
A federal court Tuesday struck down the law, paving the way for demonstrators to hand out condoms and coat hangers, references to the Catholic Church’s opposition to birth control and abortions they say are the inevitable result.
Many Australians are also uncomfortable that the local and federal governments are subsidizing the event with more than 150 million Australian dollars. Although Australia does not have the same constitutional separation of church and state as the United States, some people are unhappy that the Catholic Church, to which a quarter of Australians belong, appears to be receiving preferential treatment.
Another longstanding problem also resurfaced.
In the last two weeks, Cardinal George Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, has come under close scrutiny for his handling of a sexual abuse case involving a priest.
In 2003, the cardinal sent a letter to an alleged abuse victim, Anthony Jones, dismissing his claims to have been abused by a priest, in part, he said, because there had been no other claims against the priest in question, the Rev. Terence Goodall.
However, on the day he sent the letter to Mr. Jones, the cardinal wrote to another victim, accepting his abuse claim against Father Goodall.
Cardinal Pell denied any coverup, saying his comments to Mr. Jones were “badly worded and a mistake.” He has reopened the inquiry into Mr. Jones’s allegations.
The pope has indicated that he will offer an apology for sexual abuse by priests, as he did on his recent visit to the United States.
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