World Jul. 17, 2008 - 04:55PM JST ( 4 )

SYDNEY —

Ecstatic Catholics mingled with curious office workers as hundreds of thousands of people lined Sydney’s famous harbor Thursday to watch Pope Benedict XVI sail into an adoring welcome by pilgrims.

The pope’s “boat-a-cade,” a flotilla of 13 vessels led by a water-spouting fire tug and flanked by bodyguards on jet skis, glided past Sydney’s iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge en route to his World Youth Day debut.

More than 150,000 pilgrims let out a rousing cheer when the pontiff stepped from a luxury cruiser onto the shore and made his way through the flag-waving and screaming crowds to his waiting popemobile.

“The whole event is really exciting,” said Verena Reindl, 17, of Germany as she sat outside the Opera House, which sits on a point in the shadow of the arching Sydney Harbour Bridge, amid the cacophony of religious fervor.

The welcome ceremony marked the pope’s first major World Youth event since he arrived in Australia on Sunday and the excitement was palpable. Another 350,000 people were expected in the streets of Sydney to welcome him.

Before boarding his three-level boat in the suburb of Rose Bay for the 45-minute trip to speak to the pilgrims gathered at Barangaroo, on the city’s East Darling Harbour, the pope inspected a military guard of honor.

He also met leaders of the Garigal Aboriginal tribe, the traditional owners of that part of Sydney Harbour, one of whom handed him a sprig of gumtree leaves.

Flanked by a painted Aboriginal youth and church officials, the pope took his place in a specially-installed throne, laid on red carpet near the prow of the boat, for his journey along the famous waterway.

Cardinals and bishops stood alongside the throne under a bright winter sun, as special guests, including an Aboriginal man wearing a kangaroo skin cloak, were presented to the pontiff and kissed his ring.

With his red cape billowing in a stiff breeze, a beaming Pope Benedict waved at onlookers as the papal “boat-a-cade”, watched by scores of pleasure craft, set sail in scenes broadcast live on national television in Australia.

From early Thursday, harborside areas were swarming with foreign and Australian pilgrims and onlookers curious about the “boat-a-cade” as well as large numbers of police.

Tens of thousands of young Catholics positioned at key vantage points craned their necks to see the water—to the strains of Samoan hymns, American chants and shouts of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi.”

Marco Matos, a 23-year-old from Portugal, said he was expecting the pope to receive a rapturous welcome at Barangaroo.

“We saw him in Cologne,” he said in reference to the last World Youth Day which was held in the German city in 2005. “It was wonderful.”

World Youth Day, a celebration of the Catholic faith aimed at rejuvenating the church, has been held in a different host city around the world every two or three years since 1986.

Wire reports