NEW DELHI (UCAN) -- Faith sharing and cultural exchange among half-a-million young people from across the globe will enrich the contingent of around 1,000 Indians at the World Youth Day (WYD) celebration in Sydney, Church officials said.

WYD programs scheduled July 15-20 are expected to draw a "huge gathering" of about 500,000 young Catholics from different backgrounds, according to Father Alwyn D'Souza, secretary of the Indian bishops' Youth Commission. He believes the atmosphere will help the young Indians share their "faith experience."

The priest told UCA News his commission will make travel arrangements for about 500 young people selected from regional and diocesan youth forums, while Religious congregations, dioceses and other Catholic youth organizations are sponsoring another 500.

Pope Benedict XVI is expected to preside over closing programs for the six-day celebration, which has been billed as Australia's largest international event. Organizers expect it to be bigger than the 2000 Sydney Olympics and to pump up to US$218 million into the local economy.

However, Salesian Father Sunny Uppan, a member of the international organizing committee, insisted WYD programs will focus only on prayer and catechesis for young people.

The Salesian priest, who is based in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, told UCA News millions of people worldwide and young people in all 160 Indian dioceses are reciting a special WYD prayer. It asks that they as well as the pope and other Church leaders receive the "gifts of the Holy Spirit."

Besides praying for the success of WYD, the prayer also asks God to grant young people "a deeper faith and ability to build a new civilization of life, love and truth," Father Uppan continued.

Father D'Souza said the WYD activities will give young people a broader outlook on their faith as they share among themselves and come to understand the universal Church better. "It will help them to become better leaders in the parishes and the society they live in," the Church official added.

Father Uppan, also a regional director of the National Catholic Youth Movement, said the Sydney event will focus "on proclamation and witness to the Gospel." Activities will be marked by faith sharing, prayers and the Way of the Cross, he said.

The Way of the Cross is to be conducted through the streets and along the seafront of Sydney. A papal Mass is scheduled for July 20, a Sunday.

Father Uppan said many Indian youths have also opted to stay with Australian and New Zealand families "for a life experience" prior to the WYD celebration.

During the event itself, the youths will join in the activities of the local Church community, cultural programs, guided tours and prayers, and visit local shrines, he said.

Rakesh Singh, WYD program coordinator in India, told UCA News this "is the first time" the bishops' Youth Commission "is taking such a big number of participants."

He explained that WYD participants are selected on the basis of their participation in youth activities at the diocesan and regional levels. The recommendations of regional youth directors, diocesan youth directors and the local bishop are also taken into account.

Representatives of national and international youth groups in India such as Jesus Youth and International Movement of Catholic Agricultural and Rural Youth also will form part of the Indian delegation, he added.

Catechesis has been the aim of the WYD since Pope John Paul II instituted it in December 1985. Since then, an international-level gathering has been held almost every other year. The first international WYD was held in 1987 in Argentina, then in Spain (1989), Poland (1991), the United States (1993), the Philippines (1995), France (1997), Rome (2000), Canada (2002) and Germany (2005).

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