Pope urges Mexican crowd to use faith to combat society's ills

Pope urges Mexican Christians to use faith to combat society's ills

By JOHN RICE

MEXICO CITY (January 25, 1999 9:52 p.m. EST - In a rousing finale to his Mexico visit, Pope John Paul II urged more than 110,000 people packed into a soccer stadium Monday to use their faith to fight violence, drug trafficking and other societal ills in the new millennium.

An adoring crowd gave the pope a deafening 15-minute ovation after he entered the giant Azteca Stadium, rode around the track in his Popemobile, then stood and waved from a red-carpeted octagonal platform on the field.

"This faith, lived daily by so many believers, will enliven and inspire the programs needed to overcome" crises confronting humanity, such as corruption, drugs and unbridled consumerism, the pope told the farewell "meeting of the generations."

The wild stadium celebration was broadcast to cheering crowds in cities across the Americas, from Los Angeles to Buenos Aires, Argentina. In turn, clergy and faithful in those cities broadcast messages to the pope.

Tens of thousands lined boulevards leading to Mexico City's Azteca Stadium, leaning precariously off overpasses and standing on parked trucks to see the pope pass by on his way to the event.

Admirers showered the Popemobile with flowers and confetti. Others released balloons and doves as he passed.

Alejandra Creel, a 40-year-old designer, marveled at the raucous stadium crowd as it chanted, "John Paul, brother, now you are Mexican!" and "John Paul II, the world loves you!"

"This shows that the masses really can accomplish something positive," Creel said. "Young and old are uniting for the same causes: love and brotherhood."

Earlier Monday, the pope reached out to the rich, celebrating a private Mass for about 250 bankers, politicians and other church patrons.

The Vatican also condemned the latest U.S. bombing raids on Iraq, just a day before the pope was to meet President Clinton in St. Louis.

In a statement issued by spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the Vatican said the military action "confirms once again" the pope's belief that "military measures don't resolve problems in themselves, rather they aggravate them."

Iraq claimed that U.S. missiles struck at least two residential areas in and around the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Iraq said several people were killed and dozens wounded.

At the Vatican's nunciate, or embassy, in Mexico City, well-dressed couples climbed out of luxury cars for the private Mass - a stark contrast to Sunday's exuberant Mass before an estimated 1 million people at a dusty, trash-filled auto racetrack.

John Paul urged the civic leaders to bring religious values to public life and to remember Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, killed at Guadalajara's airport in 1993, said Carlos Medina Plascencia, an opposition legislator.

The federal Attorney General's Office concluded that Posadas Ocampo was shot by mistake, confused for a drug lord by a rival gang. Catholic bishops here rejected that conclusion - noting Posadas Ocampo was a well-known figure - and called for the case to be re-opened.

Outside the nunciate, dozens of ordinary Mexicans waited in the 35-degree cold just to be near the pope.

"We should all be together. Rich and poor come from the same Lord," said Maria Angela Velazquez, 69. "We should all be equal, but there is no equality on this Earth.

"We must remember that we do not take money to heaven, but our works and sacrifices. I am going to take the richness of spirit."

On this trip, his fourth to Mexico, the pope has stressed the need to preach to both rich and poor. Critics have contended that in recent years, sectors of the church have swung too far toward a radical "preference for the poor" after favoring the powerful earlier.

The pope leaves Tuesday morning for St. Louis, where he will meet Clinton, speak to a youth rally and celebrate Mass before 100,000 people.

The frail, 78-year-old pontiff has used his five-day visit to outline church strategy throughout the Americas for the start of the new millennium.

He signed a declaration containing that strategy. It condemned the evils of exploitative capitalism, drug trafficking, corruption, and "the culture of death" that kills through abortion, euthanasia and capital punishment.

He also urged Catholics to more vigorously defend their faith against Protestant sects that have made inroads in Latin America.

Part of the millennium strategy involves bringing civic leaders back into contact with the church. In recent years, the pope said, "pastoral care for the leading sectors of society has been neglected and many people have thus been estranged from the Church," leading to policies "alien to Gospel."

But perhaps most important, the pope renewed his relationship with Mexicans, whom he has adored - and who have adored him - since the first trip of his papacy in 1979.

Outside Azteca stadium, a group of 40 girls in an Opus Dei group from the western city of Guadalajara pleaded for extra tickets; 10 members of the group had arrived without any. Hours before the event was to start, they had already found four.

Said 17-year-old Mariana Estrada: "Miracles do happen here."