SYDNEYSIDERS have been encouraged to greet the Pope in boats as he arrives on the harbour, although police and maritime authorities say they are still unable to release details of security measures that may prevent pilgrims approaching the papal "boat-a-cade"."There will be an opportunity for all the boats of Sydney to come out that day, filled with young people singing and cheering and all the rest," said the event's co-ordinator, Bishop Anthony Fisher. "It will be spectacular."
The Pope will arrive at East Darling Harbour on board the 63-metre Sydney 2000, making Sydney the second city to take the Pope's traditional motorcade on to the water, after Cologne.
"The Rhine is a narrow little river compared to Sydney Harbour," Bishop Fisher said.
"There'll never have been as spectacular an opening to World Youth Day as we'll have [for] the Pope's arrival here on Sydney Harbour."
Although the cost of keeping the Pope safe on the harbour has been estimated at up to four times what it would be on shore, Bishop Fisher said the outlay was known by the Government before it took on security arrangements for the visit.
It would be offset by the profile the event brought to the harbour, he said. "I would say it's an investment for the country. And not just in tourism terms either but the joy it will bring the young people. They will fall in love with Sydney, I think, that afternoon."
Captain Cook Cruises will provide 13 boats for the event, three of them free. The other 10 will be made available at reduced cost.
A spokeswoman for the event, Anita Sulentic, denied organisers would profit from the ticket sales to the boat-a-cade.
Amid confusion as to who will be running the ticketing, and what tickets would cost, she said organisers would use the money only to recover the deposit paid to Captain Cook Cruises in 2006 to secure the boats. Pricing for pilgrims aboard the boats had still not been decided.
The Pope will sail into Barangaroo, a 22-hectare former container wharf site, on July 17.
Organisers expect more than 150,000 pilgrims to greet him at the wharf.
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