PITTSBURGH -- Hundreds of local Catholics returned to Pittsburgh on Monday after seeing Pope Benedict XVI in Australia last week.

The group of more than 700 was the largest from any diocese in the world to attend the World Youth Day events.

Nearly 350,000 people from 70 countries attended the papal address at World Youth Day events, one of the largest Catholic gatherings around the world.

The pope delivered a message about the future: "Dear young friends, the Lord and I are asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity."

It's a message that Pittsburgh's delegation brought home.

"The question that we all talked about on the plane that the Holy Father said, 'Do you mind if I ask you a question? What do you plan to pass on to the next generation?' And I think that these people and the nearly half-million people that were there really just caught the spirit. There was so much enthusiasm that was really there," Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik said.

WTAE Channel 4's Shannon Perrine said Pittsburgh's young Catholics worked for years to raise enough money to fly to Australia.

"It was a big deal. It was really nice, words can't even explain," said Stephanie Krivonak, of Pittsburgh.

The pope also met privately with Australians who were sexually abused as children by Catholic priests. Some victims and their families demonstrated in Sydney, saying the pope's gestures, which included an apology, were not enough.

The next World Youth Day event is planned for 2011 in Spain.

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