THE Catholic Church is encouraging Sydneysiders to register at a cost of $175 to guarantee a box-seat position at keynote events during next month's World Youth Day.These will include the evening vigil and the closing Mass at Randwick racecourse.
Up to 75,000 people will be given passes to attend the vigil and another 75,000 to the Mass on a first-in, first-served basis.
A further 200,000 will be able to watch the events on giant screens that have been set up outside the racecourse in the Alison Road and Centennial Park precinct.
Seating priority will be given to pilgrims who have registered, ensuring that all prime viewing positions will be filled by visiting internationals and registered locals.
Those who show up to see the Mass at the racecourse could face a crush for tickets, and risk being turned away.
The organisers of World Youth Day confirmed yesterday that they were expecting more than 200,000 unregistered people to show up for the Mass on July 20 in addition to the estimated 225,000 registered pilgrims.
"The Catholic Church is inviting everyone to attend all events, as a pilgrim or member of the public," an organiser said.
"Registration is not compulsory but preference is given to registered pilgrims at certain venues. Pilgrims also receive meals, a backpack, free rail and bus transport and emergency health care.
"For those Sydneysiders who only want to attend a few of the events, they are more than welcome to show up and take part in the proceedings."
The advice from the event's chief operating officer, Danny Casey, was that people who had not secured tickets should "get up early".
"We plan to distribute those tickets on arrival, on a first-come, first-served basis, based upon the remaining capacity at Randwick," Mr Casey said.
The Government's World Youth Day spokeswoman, Kristina Keneally, said people should not leave it to chance if they wanted to attend. "If you want to guarantee that you'll be at Randwick racecourse on Sunday with the Pope, you need to register as a pilgrim to ensure that you are there."
For $335 people can guarantee their place at all events and witness the final six stages of the Stations of the Cross, with meals and transport included.
Organisers said this week that Australians had been slower to register than expected but they were on track to reach their target of 225,000 registrations.
Most of the 132,671 pilgrims who had registered had paid, the church said. A further 64,181 had started but not completed the registration.
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