KEY POINTS:
Thousands of young Kiwi Catholics will travel to the single largest Christian youth event internationally - World Youth Day.
Up to 4000 young New Zealanders will join an expected 500,000 young Catholics from around the world at the July 15-20 event, which aims to unite all youth in a single place, to celebrate and share their faith.
This year's event will be held in Sydney - the first time the event has been held in the Southern Hemisphere and the first Australian visit for Pope Benedict XVI.
Yesterday the 100-day countdown began as those attending the event gathered at Auckland's Aotea Centre.
Among the dignitaries was former MP John Tamihere, who spoke about the importance and value of faith for young people.
"Above all, it taught me right from wrong - I'm still trying to figure out the wrong."
Mr Tamihere said the good thing about the church was that it brought all cultures together and there was no discrimination.
He called for those attending World Youth Day to return ready to share their leadership skills and strong ethics and values with other young people.
"Don't worry about the 10 Commandments. The best commandment to remember is: "If I do this, will my parents be proud?"'
The original idea for the international event occurred to PopeJohn Paul II in 1984, after hesaw the need for an event specifically to bring young people of the world together.
Held every two to three years, it is hosted by different cities around the world each time. Venues have included Rome, Paris, Toronto, Buenos Aires and Cologne, Germany.
For Paul Matai, this will be his second World Youth Day, having travelled to Cologne for the last one in 2005.
The 19-year-old from Otara says travelling and seeing the world because of the church has made him a better person.
"It's opened my eyes to the violence. I didn't see that before. For myself, I'm a better kid because of the church."
Mr Matai says he would like others to see what he sees.
"As an adolescent, I hung out with a gang. Now, I try to bring the boys to church, but I'm still working on that one."
He is among 30 young people from Otara's St John the Evangelist parish who are attending the event.
