Day 14: Sunday

The culmination of WYDXXIV. Breakfast, prayer and Mass with the Holy Father. After Mass the Pope  sent all pilgrims back to their countries with a special message and we found out that the next WYD will be held in Rio, Brazil.

It was a very significant and spiritual experience to be apart of 2 miilion Catholics, all celebrating their faith together. After the Gospel the Pope called for a few moments of silence and the crowd of 2 million people went silent....It was unbelievable.

This was the reason we come to Madrid, the Eucharist is what makes us Chrisitan and the gathering of 2 or more in God's name is what made this trip so special.

Day 13: Saturday

Our walking pilgrimage begins as we move from the University to the venue for the sleep out.The walk was about 6km and it was about 38 degrees as we walked, carrying all our food and sleeping equipment. When we arrived to our designated gate, we were told that it was full and we could not sit in our designated area, so we found a spot a little bit further back than we would have liked.

After all of this and a mini stampede from a German group, at about 10pm we had a storm!!!

The Pope  joined us this evening for the Eucharistic adoration and there was music, performances and lots of singing before we settled down for some sleep (about 1 hours worth).

It was pretty special to be apart of this lead up to the Final Mass.

Day 12: Friday

Today was Stations of the Cross. We actually set up in a park just near the road that was holding the stations of the cross. When we went to go out into the streets to watch the stations, we were basically locked in the park because their were too many people already out on the street.

We ended up watching the stations on the big screen and reading the stations in English from our WYD books.
It was a very moving representation of the Way of the Cross.

Day 11: Thursday

This afternoon Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Madrid and we joined the huge crowds for the welcome Mass which will be in the centre of the city. With the great influx of Pilgrims into the city it was very hard to get close to the Mass but we all felt the significance of the event and enjoyed being a part of it.

We also visited the Catherdral in Madrid, which was amazing.

The weather as been great. It's over 35 degrees celcius evry day, but it is not has humid as Australia and its a managable heat.  

Days 10—12: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

Each morning we’ll travel to Catechesis with Mass and the opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We spent one morning in Goya and the Biggest English speaking Catechesis events with about 20 000 Pilgrims from English speaking nations joining as one. We also spent time in Gadafi with the rest of the Sydney Archdiocese to listen to Archbishop Pell.

We attended a few Youth Festivals each evening, where all the pilgrims participated in singing and dancing.

Now we are just awaiting the arrival of the Pope.

Day 9: Tuesday Madrid

We had a free morning to discover the city before gathering for the Australian official welcome at 2:00pm and then the Official Opening Mass in the early evening. The sun doesn’t go down till later than we are used to, so many activities planned for the evenings will start around 8-9pm.

The town was full of people from every nationality. It was pretty much organised Chaos, but brillinat to be apart of.
Madrid is a beautiful city and their is a great spirit in the town at the moment.

Day 7: Sunday- It’s off to Florence via Siena

Siena is the birth place of Catherine of Siena a saint who was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1970. She was also responsible for persuading the Pope to come back and live in Rome after the Papacy had moved to France in the 1300s. She also worked very hard to bring the Italian States into harmony with each other. She was a Dominican sister who wrote many texts explaining how people could be true to their Catholic faith.

We’ll visit two sites in Siena; The Basilica of St Dominic and The Sanctuary of St Catherine


It’s only a short stop in Siena before we board the bus again and it’s off to Florence.
Florence the art capital of Italy, and a beautiful city with magnificent Churches and Pontes (bridges) across the Arno River.
We’re going to do a little site seeing before we reach our accommodation.
First stop will be a scenic view of Florence from Piazzale Michaelangelo.