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IN July, Sydney will be visited by Benedict XVI, spiritual father to one billion Catholics and occupant of the world's oldest seat of government.Yet with just weeks to go before the visit, insecurity, top-level resignations and a growing sense of doom have turned the organisation of World Youth Day 2008 into a potential nightmare.
Organisers of this vast operation are comparing the Pope's visit to the 2000 Olympics, but this is hardly a valid analogy.
A huge team of experts spent eight years ensuring that the Sydney Olympics ran like a well-oiled machine. The same can't be said for the organisation of the Pope's visit.
Despite assurances from the organisers, most of the extensive preparatory work needed to ensure the health, welfare and safety of the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who will descend on Sydney has still to be undertaken.
And almost nobody contracted to the organising body is willing to speak on the record.
Construction, staging, logistics and traffic experts cannot conceive how such a huge infrastructure involving such a multitude can be put together in a safe working condition in a matter of weeks.
The most critical, public and potentially perilous of all the events at which pilgrims will gather to meet the Pope is the 29-hour vigil at Randwick, in which more than 300,000 men, women and children will participate; and that doesn't take into account the additional 200,000 who haven't been able to acquire tickets and will be at Centennial Park, just across the way.
This huge mass will need access to toilet, washing and other facilities, yet preparation at Randwick has only just begun. Experts believe that the number of toilets required during the vigil period is 5000.
The organisers aren't bringing in Portaloos but are constructing temporary facilities.
A reticulated sewerage and water system will plumb into Sydney Water's infrastructure, yet with just weeks to go there is no sign of a toilet city.
Another significant problem for the organisers is the many kilometres of steel railing at Randwick.
A spokesperson for World Youth Day says the crowd will be divided into manageable pods of about 2500 to avoid the likelihood of crowd crush.
Yet there is a danger, according to crowd control experts, that excitement could create a surge, which would have devastating effects on those standing at the railings, resulting in potentially horrific injuries.
Then there's the potential damage to the Randwick racetrack. With 300,00 pilgrims tramping across the hallowed turf for a day and a night, serious protection will be needed for the racetrack to ensure the safety of the thoroughbreds that will be racing once the Pope returns to Rome.
Experts are far from convinced by assurances given by the NSW Government and World Youh Day organising committee that all will be well at the races.
In September the track has to be ready for the Spring Carnival, the premier event at Randwick, during which owners, jockeys and bookies turn over up to $100 million.
The NSW Government is growing .4ha of new turf to replace any that is destroyed and is laying artificial covering, but it's still largely guesswork.
If the Spring Carnival has to be cancelled, the NSW Government is committed to compensate the Australian Jockey Club, which could cost tens of millions more than the Government is already spending on the papal visit.
So why is such a vast sum being spent on a private function? The church will be the beneficiary of the millions of dollars in ticket sales, but the federal and state governments seem to be handing out money like confetti at a wedding.
At the end of April, the NSW Government said it would spend $86million in the hope of earning $150 million to $230 million. But unless the influx of tourists happens, the costs are likely to soar and the income likely to drop.
The NSW Government has assumed that the state will emerge as a net beneficiary from the tourist dollars the influx of global pilgrims will spend while they're here.
This is based on assurances given by the Catholic Church that 125,000 international visitors will flock to our shores to be part of the event.
With only weeks to go, the local organisers for the church refuse to disclose the numbers of those who have applied.
Only recently, a mere 16,217 special visas had been granted. Bulk bookings still have to come from several countries, but the Department of Immigration has said that June 1 is the cut-off point to guarantee passage of the visas.
And because schools are being asked to accommodate the visitors, hotels and guesthouses will be much the poorer.
Unlike previous World Youth Day locations, such as Cologne, Paris or Rome, Australia is a long way from Europe and the US. These cities boasted millions of pilgrims at the final papal mass, but the local Catholics greatly outnumbered those from other countries.
In Sydney, no doubt, there'll be vast numbers of local Catholics, but will the revenue they generate be as much as international visitors would spend?
What is missing is sophisticated project planning.
Yet a project planner has been appointed only recently.
Unlike the thoroughbreds that thrill visitors to Randwick, there are no horses galloping to the papal finishing line.
Instead it looks like a flock of sheep, wandering around in all good faith.
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