World Youth Day 2008

The 2008 World Youth Day is going to be held in Sydney, Australia, from July 15-20. His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has invited the youth of the world to come together in a week-long celebration of faith, friendship and hope. The theme for World Youth Day 2008 is "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8).

Pope Benedict XVI will be visiting Australia for the World Youth Day. Organizers are expecting up to 500,000 people to attend at least one event, with 300,000 visitors arriving for the event, including 125,000 from overseas. At the 2005 World Youth Day in Cologne an estimated 1 million people took part in the concluding Mass.

In the time leading up to the World Youth day (from July 10-14), there will be "Days in the Dioceses", where visitors from all around the world will be joining local Dioceses in Australia and New Zealand, in prayer and celebration.

For more information, read the overview on the Vatican web site, and for the details see the World Youth Day 2008 web site.

We here at CCLI welcome all of the visitors to the World Youth Day events, and pray with you that it will be a time of building faith and friendships across cultures, and as the theme says, that it will be a time when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

We offer our services to you, too, providing resources for the reproduction of songs used in the events of the World Youth Day and the Days in the Dioceses.