Australians are apparently a godless lot, according to a survey published by the Bertlesman Group. This isn't a good thing, apparently, as we're trying to present our best face to the thousands of Catholic pilgrims due for World Youth Day.

There'll be a plethora of Pope-age in Sydney during World Youth Day (err, Week). Namely one Pope Alice, (he's the one in the photo in the white facemask) a performance artist and activist who sometimes goes by the name Luke Roberts, who has announced a kiss-in in Sydney's Taylor Square, right on "the day Pope Benedict XVI holds a vigil under the stars with thousands of virile, nubile youths at Randwick Racecourse".

Roberts told the ABC that: "I want to see Pope Alice express herself as a focal point for anybody - gays, lesbians, transgender, queers, bisexuals, heterosexuals. "Anyone who has an open mind and wants to say, 'We've had enough of the medieval religions that keep the world backwards,'" he said.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Rural Fire Service and State Emergency Service have refused to stop people causing annoyance or inconvenience to WYD pilgrims. "Rather than put our volunteers in a situation where they might have a negative interaction with people at World Youth Day, we wanted it to be a positive experience," said Philip McNamara of the SES.

What do you think? Do you live in Sydney and object to this takeover of the city by what Pope Alice called "the chief homophobe of planet Earth in the gay capital of the world", as he called Pope Benedict. Tell us how you feel about the coming WYD onslaught.