The Catholic Church World Youth Day Cross was carried by 'Apifo'ou students at the head of a procession of hundreds of Catholic youths from Tonga through central Nuku'alofa on Wednesday morning, May 23.

The march was the beginning of four-day journey by the Cross carried on foot and on vehicles through Tongatapu. On the way they will stop at 52 stations for prayer rituals and medidations.

The Cross's journey through the Pacific is part of the celebration by the Catholic Church of the 2007 World Youth Day.

The Cross arrived in Tonga from Tahiti on Tuesday night. It was welcomed at Fua'amotu International Airport by Catholic youth and church members. The Cross was then transported to the Immaculate Cathedral at Ma'ufanga where vigil and a holy mass was conducted, and was attended by thousands of Catholic worshipers and youths from Tongatapu, Vava'u, Ha'apai and 'Eua.

During the Cross's Pacific journey, it has visited the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Kiribati, Samoa and American Samoa. It will leave Tonga for Fiji on Saturday, May 26, then onward from Fiji to New Caledonia, Vanuatu, then New Zealand. It is scheduled to arrive in Australia on July 15 for the beginning of the World Youth Day Celebration which will be attended by Pope Benedict XVI and about 500,000 pilgrims.