The Sydney Morning Herald reports out-of-pocket expenses for the Church may exceed original estimates of between $15 million and $20 million.
Cardinal Pell said there would be no special parish taxes and levies but he did not rule out extending loans to cover any residual debt, adding that "the Church will pay whatever we need to pay".
"They'll be no levy on any diocese. There'll be no levy on the Sydney parishes. We always anticipated that we would have to put in a significant amount of money and we're totalling that up at the moment."
In a briefing paper issued in March, Sydney priests were told that the bulk of the $150 million, four dollars in every five, would go towards providing accommodation, meals and care for more than 200,000 local and international pilgrims and the staging of major events including the opening and closing Masses.
Pilgrims' registration fees were to meet about half of all costs. The rest was to be made up by federal grants (20-24 percent), the Church and donors (18-22 percent) and business partners and sponsors (8-10 per cent). At the time, the Church's contribution was estimated to be about $15 million.
The Church yesterday released figures showing 223,000 pilgrims registered for World Youth Day, with 110,000 from overseas and 113,000 from Sydney and other parts of Australia.
It estimated more than 400,000 attended Sunday's Mass, well in excess of government crowd estimates of 300,000, but short of its own expectations of 500,000.
Meanwhile, work has begun on cleaning up Randwick racecourse.
The Church has five weeks to restore the course, but already protective turf matting is being pulled up, rubbish is being removed, toilets dismantled and the altar roof is soon to be removed and shipped back to Britain.
The Church is confident it will not have to dip into a $10 million fund set aside for unexpected damage, the Herald says.
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