Monday 25 September 2006: A three-person Papal delegation will visit Sydney this week to review preparations for World Youth Day in 2008.

Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko will lead the delegation from the Pontifical Council for the Laity (PCL), the body that oversees World Youth Day preparations and promotes the initiative around the world.

The delegation arrives in Sydney on Thursday and will spend just over a week visiting potential WYD08 event sites and meeting Australian Catholic leaders, dignitaries and Government officials.

The PCL reviewed the proposal for Sydney to host World Youth Day in 2008, which was announced as successful by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI last year at World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany.

"We are delighted to welcome the Pontifical Council for the Laity to Australia," said Sydney WYD08 Coordinator Bishop Anthony Fisher OP.

"We look forward to showcasing Sydney, discussing our preparations and receiving their feedback and advice."
"I am confident they will be impressed by the quality of our organisation and the commitment of our stakeholders, particularly the local Church, to successfully deliver World Youth Day in 2008."

World Youth Day is the largest youth event in the world and will attract an anticipated 500,000 pilgrims in July 2008.
The Local Organising Committee for WYD08 has already established a program of activities for the week-long celebration which will include the arrival and welcome of Pope Benedict into Sydney, a sleep-out under the stars and a Final Mass delivered by His Holiness on Sunday 20 July 2008.

Archbishop Rylko, the president of the PCL, will visit Sydney with PCL secretary Bishop Josef Clemens and Dr Marcello Bedeschi, a PCL member and president of the Youth Church Hope Foundation of Rome.

The PCL, established by Pope Paul VI in 1967, is the dicastery (council) that assists Pope Benedict XVI in overseeing contributions by the Catholic community to the life and the mission of the church.

Media contact: Jim Hanna 0414 828 629