KEY POINTS:
More than 2600 Catholic pilgrims from 16 countries on their way to Sydney for World Youth Day met for a reception and welcome in Auckland yesterday.
At Auckland's Beaumont Centre, masses of energetic youths representing every continent on Earth chanted and cheered throughout the service, complete with Mexican waves.
After a Maori welcome, WYD committee chairman committee Maurice Boland addressed the crowd. "There are two key words for this pilgrimage of faith - success and enjoyment," he said.
Governor-General Anand Satyanand followed with a positive message about youth.
"My wife Susan and I ... have presented a great many awards, prizes and scholarships to young people who have succeeded. Many have succeeded despite facing many obstacles, including physical or intellectual disabilities ... All of this has made it clear to us that far from being a problem, the young people of today are, as His Holiness the Pope suggests, the sowers of hope."
Bishop of Auckland Patrick Dunn impressed the crowd with his command of te reo Maori, and said he felt "overwhelmed" by the guests and number of people attending the reception.
Others present included Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee and North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams.
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin and two French bishops also joined the committee on stage.
Archbishop of Ottawa Terrence Prendergast had flown from Canada to bring 73 youths to the WYD.
"We had World Youth Day in Canada in 2002," he said. "For us it was the beginning of a new liveliness in the church, and I'm happy to be part of doing that for Australia and New Zealand."
Rowan White, 17, from Rosmini College in Takapuna will join the 4000-person Kiwi contingent. He said the event showed how universal the Catholic Church was.
"It's an affirmation of our faith because people from all over the world are meeting to celebrate it.
"It's a great opportunity to experience different cultures in the same church."
The 4000 pilgrims visiting New Zealand started arriving last weekend, and will go to Sydney between today and Tuesday.
Those at yesterday's reception have taken part in many local community activities, including tree-planting, litter clean-up projects and visiting St Patrick's Cathedral.
Other New Zealand Catholic dioceses have arranged similar community programmes for their visitors.
People unable to attend will be able to watch all major events live on Sky News, channel 90.
WORLD YOUTH DAY, SYDNEY
* "A celebration of the Catholic faith by the world's young Catholics".
* Events will take place over six days from Tuesday to Sunday.
* This year's gathering will include the Pope, 500 cardinals and bishops and 2000 priests.
* Up to 500,000 visitors are expected to attend the final Mass, to be celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI tomorrow week.
* Around 4000 New Zealanders will attend - the largest group to leave the country for a non-sporting or war-time event.
* World Youth Day was first established in Rome in 1986. It's now in its 23rd year.
* The largest World Youth Day gathering was in Manila, the Philippines, in 1995 when 4.5 million people attended the final Mass - regarded as the largest gathering of humanity in one place.
