A FOUR-metre high cross sent on a world tour by the Pope is to come to Swindon.

The cross has travelled almost 50,000 miles since it was presented in Rome at the 1983 World Youth Day.

Father Kevin Hennessey, the assistant priest at St Mary's Church, in Tovey Road, will take responsibility for it when it arrives in the early hours of January 20.

He will escort it to Clifton Cathedral, in Bristol, for a mass with 150 youngsters from all over the diocese, including a group from St Joseph's Comprehensive School where he is chaplain.

"It is a great privilege," he said.

The cross will travel through all the dioceses in England and Wales until then be handed over to Scotland.