Sydney  - Pope Benedict XVI will holiday in a Blue Mountains forest lodge in rural Australia later this month before presiding over the World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney, news reports said Sunday.

The German-born 81-year-old will spend his three days at Kenthurst Study Centre relaxing, playing the piano and taking part in daily prayers, Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell told the Sunday Telegraph.

The pontiff arrives July 13 but will not be officially welcomed to Sydney until a grand boat-a-cade entrance on the harbour July 17.

"The venue was chosen as it is a semirural location run by the Catholic Church which is in close proximity to Sydney," Cardinal Pell said. "He will be resting from his long flight, which is the furthest he has travelled."

Kenthurst, close to the Richmond military air base where the Pope will fly in, is run by the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei.

He will leave Australia on July 21, a day after the celebration s culminate in an open-air mass at Randwick Racecourse expected to attract up to 500,000 pilgrims.

Kenthurst, which has views of the Blue Mountains, is 40 kilometres Sydney. In the city itself, Pope Benedict will stay with Cardinal Pell and the lodge adjoining St Mary's Cathedral.

Bishop Anthony Fisher, coordinator of World Youth Day, said he was pleased the pope would take some of his annual leave in Australia.

"We are delighted that the Holy Father has chosen to arrive early and spend more time in Australia," Bishop Fisher said. "We were asked to nominate a suitable location for his stay and have recommended somewhere serene, beautiful and suitable for the leader of the world's Catholics." (dpa)