"Things Must Change Here"

By John Kohan

The Pope ends his trip with a bold call for social justice

The pilgrimage had been described as a "purely pastoral" visit. But as Pope John Paul IPs eight-day trip to Central America and Haiti drew to a close last week, the dividing line between religion and politics seemed to have all but disappeared. On none of his previous 16 foreign voyages had the Pontiff so consistently called for social justice, and seldom have his words and gestures been so carefully watched. Said a Vatican official traveling with the Pope: "Even when he says Mass it seems to have political implications."

The official may have been referring to the shouting match in Nicaragua between John Paul and pro-Sandinista youths. But if the Pope had endured heckling from Marxists at the Managua Mass, he showed last week that he was no friend of anti-Communists who violate human rights. During a private meeting at Guatemala's National Palace, he chastised the President, General Efrain Rios Montt, for executing six men, who had been convicted of subversive activity, on the eve of the papal visit. The Pontiff saved some of his strongest criticism of injustice for a Mass attended by President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier in Haiti.

John Paul's visits to Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Haiti drew enthusiastic crowds in the hundreds of thousands. Laboring well into the night, Guatemalans laid an 81A -mile carpet of colored sawdust and grass, decorated with pictures of doves and brilliant floral designs for the papal motorcade.

The Pope was welcomed coolly and correctly to Guatemala City by Rios Montt, a fervent born-again Protestant. Rios Montt issued a statement noting that "the Guatemala we are building is based on mutual respect between the government and those governed." Speaking to a crowd of about 500,000 gathered for Mass at a military parade ground in the capital, the Pope stressed that the government still had to improve its human rights record. Said John Paul: "When you trample a man, when you violate his rights, when you commit flagrant injustices against him, when you submit him to torture, break in and kidnap him or violate his right to life, you commit a crime and a grave offense against God."

John Paul traveled by helicopter to Quezaltenango, some 100 miles northwest of the capital, for a meeting with Guatemala's Indians, hundreds of whom are believed to have been killed during the past year in a government crackdown on leftist insurgents. Demanding legislation to protect the Indians, John Paul told a crowd dressed in bright colored handwoven outfits that "the church is aware of the discrimination you suffer and the injustices you must put up with, the serious difficulties you have in defending your lands and your rights, the frequent lack of respect for your culture and customs."

In neighboring Honduras, President Roberto Suazo Cordova told John Paul in a welcoming address that "prisons for ideas and chains for thoughts do not exist." Still, the Pope used every opportunity to preach his message of justice. He told 200,000 people gathered for Mass in front of a church in Tegucigalpa built to honor the country's patron saint, the Virgin of Suyapa, that it was not possible "to invoke the Virgin as Mother while maltreating her sons." In San Pedro Sula, the country's second largest city, he urged workers in newly industrialized areas to form trade unions and called for a wage system that took account of each laborer's needs.

During a two-hour stopover in Belize, which gained full independence from Britain in 1981, John Paul addressed the problem of growing sectarian tensions in the region. The Pope reaffirmed his commitment to "Christian unity" but criticized "aggressive proselytism that disturbs and hurts, sometimes with unworthy procedures," a reference to zealous Protestant missionaries who have won converts away from the Catholic Church.

In Haiti, John Paul gave a much needed boost to church leaders who have only recently begun to speak out boldly for human rights. The Pope applauded Duvalier's decision to end government control of church appointments but condemned the unequal distribution of wealth in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere (per capita income: $270). He bluntly told Duvalier and the elite sitting in the stands during an outdoor Mass at Port-au-Prince's airport that they had a "serious and urgent responsibility with respect to their brothers and sisters" and publicly endorsed the slogan of Haiti's yearlong Eucharistic Congress, "Something must change here."

The Pope returned to that theme hi his address to the Latin American Bishops' Conference, which was meeting in Port-au-Prince. "The poorest must have a preference in your hearts," he told the 62 assembled delegates. But he offered an important corrective to priests who have become heavily involved in politics since regional bishops first spoke of the church's "option for the poor" during their 1968 conference in Medellin, Colombia. Said the Pope: "You must know and you must proclaim that such an option will not seriously be pastoral and not Christian if it is inspired by mere political or ideological criteria, if it promotes sentiments of hate and struggle among men."

There were no signs last week that the two priests serving in the Nicaraguan Cabinet would heed the Pope's call to step down from the government. Indeed, the Sandinistas tried to cast the Pope's contentious visit to Nicaragua in the best possible light. A Sandinista communique pointed out that even if the Pope's speeches strengthened "rightist, antipopular elements," they also offered hope to supporters of the revolution. The Holy See was not appeased. A commentator on Vatican Radio blasted the Managua shouting match as a "profanation of the sacred Mass" and a "maladroit propagandistic manipulation."

Some supporters of leftist insurgents in El Salvador complained bitterly that the Pope's words to that war-torn nation should have more forcefully come down on the side of the poor. But many Salvadorans took heart from John Paul's surprise visit to the tomb of martyred Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, who was killed while saying Mass in 1980. Moderate voices in the church praised the Pope for showing that dialogue was no longer a word used only by the left.

In the absence of more dramatic political developments, Vatican officials could point to this kind of subtle change of heart and mind as a vindication of John Paul's mission. They hoped that the Pope's forceful social message would rouse conservative church leaders once and for all from complacence to action. Such a committed church could indirectly contribute to tensions in the region and perhaps bring greater suffering upon itself in the cause of justice. But, as the Pope told crowds in Guatemala, there could be "no more divorce between faith and life."

As John Paul flew back to the Vatican last week, Polish Primate Jozef Cardinal Glemp announced in Rome that the Pope's next pilgrimage would be a return visit to his native Poland, beginning June 16. The official confirmation of a papal trip came amid signs that Poland's moribund independent trade union, Solidarity, was showing new signs of life. Onetime Union Leader Lech Walesa called for "protests, hunger strikes and strikes" to oppose the arrest and trial of union supporters. Shipyard workers in Gdansk, the birthplace of Solidarity, sent a letter to the Polish parliament urging that the independent union be restored. They also demanded that Gdansk be included as a stop on the Pope's tour. It was a sure sign that having traveled halfway round the world to preach peace, John Paul would soon have to delve into politics closer to home.

--ByJohn Kohan. Reported'bySam Allis/ Guatemala City and Wilton Wynn with the Pope

With reporting by Sam Allis/Guatemala City and Wilton Wynn with the Pope This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.