ST. AGATHA – Just two days before his group leaves for a weeklong jaunt to Toronto for the biennial World Youth Conference, 18-year-old Brandon Berce was getting excited Friday about the prospect of seeing and hearing Pope John Paul II.

The young man will join eight friends and two adult chaperones for the trip and the conference. More than 200,000 young people from around the world are expected to attend.

Appearances by the pope and a papal Mass will conclude the seven-day conference. Pope John Paul II, who has been in poor health, canceled several recent appearances to be able to attend the conference.

The spiritual leader for the Maine group will be the Rev. Robert Vaillancourt, pastor of the St. Thomas Aquinas Parish at Madawaska. He could not be reached Friday.

Like most youths in Maine, Berce and his friends have been involved for months in fund raising and other preparations. The trip is costing each of them about $550, plus spending money.

“I’m pretty excited about this chance to meet people from different cultures, and to get closer to God,” Berce said Friday. “I’ve never seen the pope, and I am anxious to hear what he has to say.

“This is going to be a great experience,” he said. “He is getting older, and he is a very wise man. I’m anxious to hear him speak.”

Berce will be among more than 200 Maine youths traveling to the conference. Most will leave Sunday.

His mother, Carol Berce of St. Agatha, is one of two chaperones for the group of nine youths. The northern Maine group, consisting of young people from St. Agatha, Frenchville, Sinclair and Fort Kent, includes Ryan Sinclair, Nick Berce, Jenna Collins, Anna Ouellette, Robin Diamond, Ruth Melvin, Brandon Michaud, Lana Paradis and Charles Collin, the second chaperone.

The young people learned of the trip through Youth Ministry, a program of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, which includes all of Maine. Their own parishes have assisted the youngsters, Carol Berce said.

“Parishioners have been very generous with donations and attending the fund raisings,” she said. “We were very fortunate with the effort, people were very giving.

“I hope the conference will give our youths a renewed belief in the church,” she said. “The kids are really excited, and this will help them – faithwise.

“I’m very excited about the experience,” the chaperone said. “Just being there in charge of these children will be a challenge. Hopefully the kids will be touched.”

It was much the same for Alan Cyr of Van Buren. A garage owner, he is the chaperone for six young people from Van Buren who will leave Sunday to become part of a larger group from central Maine.

Traveling with Cyr is his daughter Kristin Cyr, Amy Vaillancourt, Kathie Dumond, Nicki Ouellette, Sean Violette and Myles Ouellette.

“There are a lot of teachings there for them,” Cyr said of the world conference. “This is a big thing for these kids. For a while, some of the kids were scared because some had never been away from their parents,” he said Friday. “Now they are OK, and it’s such a positive environment for them.

“They are real excited, real anxious,” he said.

Because of the difficulties the church has gone through this year, Cyr believes the conference will help the young people and the Catholic Church.

“The church has been through some rough times,” he said. “The problems had to come out, and I’m glad it did.

“The wounds are healing, and the church will be stronger for it,” he said. “The church will be safer for our children.”

Problems within the church, particularly those involving priests and allegations of sexual abuse, have not deterred youths from attending the conference. The Maine group will include some from York County.

“No one is perfect,” said Cassie Jendzejec, 16, of St. Christopher’s Church in York, reflecting on problems in the church. “Religion is based on forgiveness.”

Erin Townsend, 14, of St. Michael’s Church in South Berwick, hopes the scandals of the church won’t weaken Catholics’ belief in God.

“God’s perfect and people aren’t,” Townsend said. “[Being Catholic] is about God.”

Teen-ager Myles Ouellette of Van Buren also is excited about the trip and seeing the pope for the first time. He also was thinking Friday about the problems in the church.

“The problems of the church affected people, but not me personally,” he said. “It happened in the church, and people should get over it.

“This conference should help kids by showing them everyone can make mistakes,” he said. “While the problems can’t be justified, they can make us stronger by believing in the church.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.