The whereabouts of the next World Youth Day won't will be official until Sunday when the Pope is expected to make the announcement himself after his closing mass. Unofficially, event organizers have said that the next World Youth Day will be held in Germany in 2004.

Anyone is free to attend three events during the World Youth Day festival: the Papal welcoming ceremony at Exhibition Place on Thursday, the "Way of the Cross" along University Avenue on Friday, and the Papal mass on Sunday. People who paid hundreds of dollars to register will get to stand closer to the Pope than others who just happen to wander in. But most people in the crowd will be able to experience the Pontiff on video screens and loudspeakers anyway, so there may not be much difference.

Customs officials are anticipating a significant increase in vehicle traffic at border points such as Windsor, Sarnia, Niagara Falls and Fort Erie, said Mark Butler, a Canada Customs and Revenue Agency spokesman. The heaviest traffic is expected on July 22 and plans are in place to add staff if necessary to ease the traffic at the border. Immigration Canada Spokeswoman Susan Scarlett said the government is making every effort to accommodate the approximately 26,000 pilgrims who have applied for visas, by waiving the $75 document processing fee and adding staff to deal with the influx of applications. About 25 per cent of World Youth Day applicants are rejected if they are deemed too risky to allow into the country, Ms. Scarlett said. Applicants must be able to prove that they are coming to Canada for a temporary stay and have intentions to return home. While some of the rejected applicants are from poorer countries, Ms. Scarlett said that everybody is treated equally. Applicants from Guatemala and Cuba, for instance, had a 95 per cent acceptance rate.

The official Papal Welcoming Ceremony for John Paul II will take place at Exhibition Place on Thurs. July 25 at 4:30 p.m. The Pope will hold an evening vigil at Downsview Lands on Sat. July 27 at 7:30 p.m. The vigil begins with prayer, music, testimonies and a message from the Pope. The following day, on Sun. July 28, the Papal Mass will be held from 9:30 a.m. until noon at Downsview Lands. Downsview Lands are located in the north-central part of Toronto.

John Paul II and his immediate entourage will spend July 27 to 29 in Morrow Park Motherhouse, a stone complex in North York that is the centre for a Catholic religious order, the Sisters of St. Joseph. Just under half of the congregation's 195 members live in the building. The six-hectare property on Bayview Avenue houses an infirmary, a retreat centre, residences, a 500-seat chapel and a Catholic girls' school. The Pope will stay on the ground floor in a renovated north wing, taking meals with the sisters, and saying mass and praying in a private chapel. He will meet privately for 20 minutes each with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson, Ontario Premier Ernie Eves and Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman, as well as church leaders.

The Vatican selects a host city for World Youth Day celebrations every other year, and the selection process is similar to the method used to pick sites for the Olympic Games. Dioceses in many countries volunteer for the job, giving organizers details about the kinds of facilities they can offer to accommodate a large number of people, and the Vatican sends representatives to inspect the cities. The Pope is expected to announce next year's host city during the final day of the festival at Downsview Park in Toronto on July 28.