Gibson's participation would be an incentive to bring the World Youth Day and the pope's visit to the city, the newspaper reported.

Archbishop Pell told the Herald that intermediaries had "started approaches" to Gibson to stage the event. Gibson's involvement with World Youth Day, he added, was on the city's "wish list," Pell said.

"He might well be attracted. I think his devotion to Christ is very real," the churchman said of the American-born actor who lived in Australia in his youth.

On Aug. 21, the pope will announce the choice of the 2008 host city during the World Youth Day celebration in Cologne - an event expected to attract an estimated 400,000 young Catholics from 160 countries around the world, The Associated Press reported.

The bid document obtained by the Herald does not say how much the event would cost, but it is rumored that it could reach at least $80 million - a figure that has bothered some sections of the church who believe that its contribution - thought to be about a third - could be better spent elsewhere.

The Sydney Diocese has offered to subsidize accommodation, transport and meals for young people from poor or war-torn countries. The bid document says Youth Day in Sydney would bring more young people to church and more men into the priesthood, and precipitate a new evangelism in Australia and Oceania.

On the day after the Stations of the Cross, pilgrims would walk 20 kilometers from the North Sydney shrine of Mary MacKillop across five bridges, including Sydney's Harbor Bridge, to Olympic Park, where, on next day, the pope would celebrate Sunday Mass.

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