Dublin student, Aisling O’Rourke will read at this Saturday’s Prayer Vigil Mass in Sydney with Pope Benedict XVI. The Mass is the culmination of World Youth Day in Australia and up to half a million people are expected to attend the event at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

World Youth Day has become the largest single mobilisation of young people from around the world. It is an invitation from the Pope to the youth of the World to celebrate their faith around a particular theme.

Aisling is a second year law student at UCD and an active member of Catholic Youth Care in Dublin as well as her local parish of Johnstown/Killiney. This is her second time to attend World Youth Day, having been on Cologne two years ago. Aisling is also a member of the CYC choir.

She and two hundred other pilgrims from the Archdiocese joined the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin in Australia for the 23rd World Youth Day which comes to an end this weekend. The group, led by CYC Director, Fr. Jim Caffrey, was initially based in Melbourne in the parish of St. Scholastica. They moved to Sydney last weekend where they stayed in St. Patrick’s Parish in Bondi Beach.

On Saturday it is expected she will read a spoken excerpt from the Acts of the Apostles in English – other representatives will read in French, Spanish and Italian. This will take place at the start of the Vigil. Aisling reads regularly at her parish Masses and other Church events and is also well known for her debating and public speaking skills – but even with those credentials – it will no doubt still be a daunting task to speak to over half a million people at Randwick and a multi media audience of millions worldwide.