It seems more people are put off by the impending road closures during Catholic World Youth Day (C-WYD), than the fact it’s costing us millions of dollars, or that it’s just about glorifying the Pope. It’s good to see Sydneysiders have their priorities right!

The Sun-Herald reports that 64% of Sydneysiders are in favour of the C-WYD, but that number fell to 47% when taking the road closures into account. Of course the original poll was conducted just before the $86 million cost to the government was announced. I bet the percentage in favour would be a lot less now, especially when the cost is now estimated to be closer to $160 million!

Australian Federation of Islamic Councils’ head, Ikebal Patel, said that, for any large-scale event to be held successfully, government funding was needed. He supported the Catholic Church in hosting World Youth Day.

I bet he does. I also bet he’s thinking “I better support the Catholics because when I run Islamic WYD I want the government to pay for that too.”

Alongside the above article, was another article discussing the merchandise available for the Youths.

specially designed WYD … hoodies, … beanies

da Pope will b rappin da streetz wit me home boyz, Yo, Init

A WYD spokeswoman said profits from merchandising would go towards the cost of staging the event by the Catholic Church.

So the Catholic church, which is putting up only a paltry part of the costs, is going to get some/most/all of their costs back anyway. I can guarantee you that the profits wont be going back to the taxpayers.


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