A Korean pilgrim being interviewed for television

In Brisbane Diocese, with its largest number of pilgrims arriving today, the media turned out in full force to report the uplifting mood as thousands of foreign pilgrims poured in from all corners of the globe the share their faith and experience the Days in the Diocese.

One ABC journalist, who preferred to remain anonymous, remarked on what an exciting time this is and whether WYD in Australia will mean a returning to values and beliefs for Australians. 

“You sense the excitement with the young people. Its nice to have the sense of optimism in the air. You want World Youth Day to be a positive experience – they have come so far.”

He went on to say ABC programmes, such as Encounter on Radio National “will have a solid interest in World Youth Day and ask, are we reawakening a resurgence in Religion in Australia? Is this a turn to core values and beliefs? What kind of signal does this send to the rest of the world about us Australia. You certainly hope its a positive one.”

“There are a lot of events on at the moment, the Tour de France, the Olympics and World Youth Day, they are really big international events. This is a really exciting time of the year. ”

Pilgrims arriving this morning in Brisbane came from countries including; Mongolia, Korea, Japan, Togo, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy (including Padua and Florence), Canada, Poland, USA, and Latvia.