Thousands of young Catholics will get a message from Pope Benedict on an unlikely channel -- their mobile phones.

As part of an effort to broaden the Catholic Church's appeal, the Pope plans connect with an estimated 225,000 young Catholics via text message for World Youth Day (WYD) this coming July.

The Pope will celebrate WYD 2008 in Sydney, Australia. Telstra, a leading national telecom company, will provide support for the mobile campaign.

The text campaign will work in conjunction with a Facebook-style social network the Church has set up to help unite young Catholics around the world.

"We wanted to make WYD08 a unique experience by using new ways to connect with today's tech-savvy youth," Bishop Anthony Fisher said in a statement on Wednesday.