Billed as the largest youth event in the world, World Youth Day (WTD) is a week-long series of events attended by Pope Benedict XVI and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all corners of the globe.
"I can't wait to go," Danielle Buchanan-Windfuhr (23), of Dunedin, said.
Attending WYD in Cologne, Germany, in 2005, Miss Windfuhr said it was "fantastic to meet young Catholics from all over the world".
"Often we feel like we are in the minority, so this is a special time."
Fellow pilgrim, Pesamino-Solomona Tili (32), of Dunedin, who attended WYD in Rome in 2000 said what struck him was hearing people speaking different languages reciting the same prayers.
"Even though we couldn't communicate we could pray and sing in the same language," he said.
Kavanagh College teacher and the diocese WYD ambassador, Vaughan Hook, said the pilgrims were well prepared after months getting ready for the event.
"Everyone is very excited.
The atmosphere will be unbelievable."
While the event focused on Catholic youth, the support of older members in the diocese had enabled them to attend, he said.
"Older members are looking for hope in the Church and there is a real resurgence at the moment. World Youth Day is part of this.
It helps to bridge the generation gap."
The Otago-Southland pilgrims, split into seven groups, would leave for Sydney next week in time for the opening Mass on Tuesday, said Father Vaughan Leslie, of Dunedin.
The various groups, all aged between 16 and 35, will be hosted by schools, church groups and homestays during their visit, for the event that is larger than the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
"World Youth Day is logistically 10 times bigger than the Sydney Olympics, for a tenth of the budget," he said.
It costs $1700 per pilgrim to attend the event, which includes a $500 registration fee to subsidise travel costs for pilgrims from poorer countries.
"The bishop has also sponsored some pilgrims from the Solomon Islands so they can attend," Fr Leslie said.
More than 500,000 people are expected to participate in the week-long activities, which end with a Mass at Randwick Racecourse on July 20.
World Youth Day
• Held in Sydney July 15-20.
• Believed to be the biggest celebration of young people in the world.
• More than 4000 New Zealanders will attend the event, believed to be one of the largest groups to have left these shores since WW2.
• More than 500,000 people are expected to participate in the week-long activities, which end with a Mass at Randwick Racecourse on July 20.
• More than 100,000 pilgrims will sleep in 700 schools and parishes around Sydney.
• The four official languages of World Youth Day are: English, French, Italian and Spanish.
• The first World Youth Day was held in Rome in 1986 at Pope John Paul's behest.
• It is held every two or three years
• World Youth Day has been held in Buenos Aires (1987), Santiago de Compostela (1989), Czestochowa (1991), Denver (1993), Manila (1995), Paris (1997), Rome (2000), Toronto (2002), and Cologne (2005).
• More than 4.5 million people attended Mass when it was held in Manila, in the Philippines, in 1995.
