Pilgrims hold candles during the evening vigil for World Youth Day prayer ceremony with Pope Benedict XVI in Sydney
© AFP Anoek de Groot SYDNEY (AFP) - A crowd estimated at 200,000 crammed the city's 90-hectare (222-acre) Randwick racecourse for the vigil, with numbers expected to swell to 500,000 Sunday as World Youth Day climaxes with a papal mass.
Queues rapidly formed at stalls selling hot chocolate and soup as the winter chill set in and pilgrims prepared to spend the night under the stars, creating a sea of flickering candles across the racetrack.
"If we get too cold, we'll let the warmth of the Lord comfort us," Sister Mary Concepta from the Sisters of Life order in New York said with a laugh.
"Luckily, we come from a cold state, so we came with good gear."
Pope Benedict XVI waves to pilgrims during the evening vigil for a World Youth Day prayer ceremony
© AFP Vincenzo PintoSharon Redmond from California said she could could think of no better way to spend her 53rd birthday as she clutched her candle.
"I've just got a few hundred thousand of my closest friends around for my birthday party," she said. "I've even got the Pope in as guest speaker."
German soldier Ingo Reckmann, who made the pilgrimage with 35 of his comrades, said the all-night vigil was a time for contemplation.
"It is a great feeling being here with all these people, getting the spirit of the Lord," he said.
In a speech, the Pope called for unity in faith in a divided world and told the pilgrims that growing secularism was fragmenting society.
"Gathered before our much-travelled cross and the icon of Mary, and under the magnificent constellation of the Southern Cross, we pray," he said.
The Pope left the vigil after two hours to ecstatic applause before the pilgrims settled down for a cold night.
The Pope called for unity in faith and told the pilgrims that growing secularism was fragmenting society.
© AFP Vincenzo PintoAhead of his arrival, some pilgrims read bibles by torchlight while others danced and organisers worked the crowd into a frenzy, declaring: "Pilgrims prepare yourselves, Pope Benedict XVI is just moments away."
Earlier, cries of "Hallelujah" and prayerful singing replaced the usual din of traffic on Sydney's Harbour Bridge on Saturday as masses of pilgrims walked to the vigil.
Tens of thousands made the nine-kilometre (5.5-mile) pilgrimage walk from the bridge to the racecourse, transforming Australia's biggest city yet again for the penultimate day of a six-day Catholic youth celebration.
"It's amazing," 16-year-old German pilgrim Stefanie Koenig told AFP of the atmosphere during her early morning walk across the bridge. "It's like a big championship of football.
"There are so many colours, people from other nations and we can also talk to people from different nations. I think it's been the best experience that has ever happened to me."
A Malaysian flag (L) flies as pilgrims camp out at the Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney
© AFP Krystle WrightThousands of worshippers waving national flags and playing guitars, banging drums and tambourines walked across the bridge under winter sunshine amid hymns sung in several languages and the occasional cheer of "Aussie, Aussie Aussie".
"What I can say is, thank God because this is a special occasion for many Africans who are living here and who have come from Africa," said Derek Mashamalirwa, who travelled to Sydney from Africa.
The pilgrims were untroubled as they made their way across the bridge, which has only been closed to traffic a handful of times in its 75-year history, but they encountered loud protests against the Pope's visit elsewhere on the route.
As they made their way past Oxford Street, the heart of Sydney's gay district, protesters angered by the Pope's stand on contraception threw condoms at the young Catholics and shouted "AIDS kills, use a condom".
Some pilgrims were seen to give the protesters a peace sign, while most ignored them and continued on their way to the vigil.
©AFP