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Sydney: Pope’s crowd meets online
WYD2008, the world's largest youth event ever, has gone web 2.0 with a social networking website designed specifically to connect those attending the event. And a whole new range of techno-tools to connect youth with the Pope ...
di Staff
More than a youth festival, World youth day 2008, being celebrated July 15-20 in Sydney, Australia, has been hailed by faith based NGOs as a call to solidarity where “faith and justice meet”. The event, which is the largest youth event in the world, and the largest event Australia has ever hosted, will attract an estimated 500 thousand young Catholic pilgrims from across the world, who will take to the capital’s streets to celebrate their faith.
But WYD2008 has also been hailed as an event of ‘firsts’: the first time that the Pope visits Australia, the first time the Pope will send his audience daily sms messages, the first time 500 thousand youth will gather for an event. And the first time a social networking site will have been created especially to cater for an event. Xt3.com, the WYD2008’s official networking site, has been designed to connect the millions of young people involved in youth day across the globe with each other and their families and communities.
Bishop Fisher, who coordinates the WYD2008, said that “We are very excited to launch Xt3.com and to be helping young people and their friends plan their trip and share their faith and excitement for World Youth Day”.
More than just a helpful information site, the website aims to foster the creation of a virtual community of faithful youth. “The name Xt3 was inspired by Pope John Paul II who spoke of young people’s special task to bring the Gospel of Christ into the third Millennium and to build a better civilisation”, explained Bishop Fisher during the launch of the Xt3.com at the Telestra Experience Centre in Sydney, where the website was tested together with 100 youth representatives.
“This will be the most interactive World Youth Day to date with Xt3.com, Papal sms’s and digital prayer walls keeping pilgrims involved before, during and after the event” said Michael Rocca, managing director of Telestra, which is hosting the website.
“It is hoped that Xt3 users will continue to connect after the WYD event to build upon the friendships made and continue to dialogue about what it means to be a young person of faith” added the Bishop.
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