Pope to face radicals’ challenge

Press, 26 January 1979, Page 6

Pope to face radicals’ challenge

NZPA-Reuter Vatican City, ! Pope John Paul II began; an exhausting 20-hour day; [when he left yesterday for !Santo Domingo at the start] jof his first trip abroad since ] his election three months • •ago. The Pope’s week-long tour of Santo Domingo and Mexico, arranged around the third conference of Latin American bishops, began at 8 a.m. local time (about 6.30 p.m. yesterday, NZ time) when he flew out of Fiumicino Airport in Rome. On board the Alitalia DC--10 was the papal party of Vatican churchmen, doctors, and two Swiss Guards —] traditionally in charge of] the pontiff’s personal safety. [ The Pope's luggage includ-] ed § sombrero presented to] him on Wednesday by ai: group of Mexican pilgrims. ! It was a moment of light! relief as the Polish-born] Pope prepared to join the;l keen debate among Latin] American Roman Catholics l<

.over the role of the Church; jin a continent of poverty land political instability. Pope John Paul will face a! 'busy schedule as soon as he I arrives in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic, after a 10 J hour flight. Presideni Antonio Guzman will greet him at the end of the 8000 km journey. During what the Government has decreed a “Day of Joy” the 58-year-old Pope will celebrate an open-air Mass in his fluent Spanish before thousands of the faithful in the city’s Independence Square. ! Some 20 hours after wakj ing in his Vatican chambers. I [the Pope will end the 101 st 'day of his pontificate at the j papal nunciature in Santo (Domingo. i The choice of the Caribibean island for the opening | stage of his tour was made |by Pope John Paul himself. I It was there that Christopher Columbus celebrated

the first Mass in the New! World in .1493. Today the Pope, whose! party includes some 60 re-! porters and photographers, ’ will fly to Mexico City! where millions are expected! to line his route into townj from the airport.

I The tour will reach its: I • highlight on Sunday when/ .John Paul joins the leaders jof Latin America’s 350 mil-|| lion Roman Catholics at the ’ bishops’ conference ini Puebla. The Pope, who has shown P no disinclination to voicing j 1 his opinion on a variety of' 1 religious and lay topics, will ' face a stern test at the first * such meeting since 1968. The bishops are divided ( ' on the right approach to the., 'region’s problems — some , [calling for the Church to!' take a clear stand on social', 'and political issues. the; ( [others urging it to maintain;, a purely pastoral role. The document issued byp Latin American bishops ate the last conference in 1968' spoke of injustice which can'l be defined as in- i stitutionalised violence, be-i t cause present structures’] violate fundamental rights, |i It advocated global, au-p dacious, urgent, and deep re-'i

forms in Latin American [social systems. That statement had .a profound effect on the world’s 750 million Catholics and helped move Church leaders over to the side of the poor, the disinherited, land the oppressed, some[times in direct conflict with , the predominantly military governments of Latin America. But it has also torn the Church between two extremes — Christians for socialism or priests involved lin armed struggle on one side and conservative advocates of closer relations with the military or a Christian civilisation as the only viable alternative to military dictatorships. Before he left Rome, the 'Pope accepted an official request by Chile and Argentina to mediate tn their dispute over three small islands |in the Beagle Channel at the southern tip of South America.