Irish student to read at Papal mass in Sydney

A Dublin student will read at a Vigil Mass attended by Pope Benedict XVI in Australia tonight.

A Dublin student will read at a Vigil Mass attended by Pope Benedict XVI in Australia tonight.

Aisling O’Rourke has been chosen for the service to mark World Youth Day, which is expected to attract a congregation of more than half a million young people.

The second year UCD law student is due to read a spoken excerpt from the Acts of the Apostles in English at the start of the Vigil, with other representatives reading in French, Spanish and Italian.

Ms O'Rourke, who is from the parish of Johnstown/Killiney, is among 200 pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Dublin marking the 23rd anniversary of the event.

On Tuesday she carried the Irish flag during the event's opening ceremony to represent the Catholic Youth Care (CYC) in Dublin, of which she is a member.

The Mass at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney is the culmination of World Youth Day and is expected to attracted millions of viewers worldwide via the internet.