Pope Benedict XVI has met with a group of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds at a church in inner Sydney. He told the crowd that they were inspirational for turning their backs on drugs and criminal activities, and he described them as ambassadors of hope. Two young people told the church their personal stories. One of them, Andrew Holmes, spoke to the Pontiff and says it was an amazing experience. “He was just saying ‘look after yourself, be good to everybody’,” he said. “He’s a fair dinkum bloke, y’know, you can just tell.”AFTER his spectacular public outing yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI will spend most of today meeting religious leaders, youth from around the world – and bashing victim Lauren Huxley.

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Among the youth is Lauren Huxley. The 21-year-old is among a select group of young people granted an audience with the Pontiff during this week’s World Youth Day. Ms Huxley, bashed and left for dead in her Northmead, Sydney home in 2005, has been looking forward to the audience. She will meet Pope Benedict at the Sacred Heart Church in Darlinghurst at his final engagement of the day at 6.45pm.