VENEZUELA: ARRIVAL OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

Описание: (10 Feb 1996) Natural Sound

Pope John Paul the Second has arrived in Venezuela on the latest stage of his tour of Latin America.

During five days in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, John Paul's main themes - expressed in sermons and at gatherings of tens of thousands of faithful - were peace and reconciliation.

He is expected to sound the same notes in Venezuela during the final days of his foreign tour.

But one of his main challenges in Venezuela is to shore up the Roman Catholic Church against rapidly gaining Protestant sects.

Escorted by two Venezuelan Air Force jets, Pope John Paul II landed Friday in Venezuela, a South American nation plagued by poverty, crime and inequalities between rich and poor.

The Pope is to spend the last two days of his 69th foreign trip in this country of 22 (m) million.

The pontiff was met by President Rafael Caldera, and was given a cedar box containing handfuls of soil from all 22 Venezuelan states.

One of John Paul's challenges in Venezuela is to shore up the Roman Catholic Church against rapidly gaining Protestant sects.

Fifteen years ago, just one in 100 Venezuelans were Protestant. Today, the Church says, it's one in four.

The 11-mile route from the airport near the Caribbean Sea up to Caracas was lined with tens of thousands of well-wishers.

The pope stopped briefly near the violent, overcrowded Catia jail on the city's western outskirts and - from a distance of 300 yards - blessed inmates, calling attention to their plight and to the civil rights of prisoners elsewhere.

The Catia jail was built for about 750 inmates, but houses more than 2,000. Violence is rampant and prison conditions unsanitary.

Catia inmates, many standing bare-chested behind iron bars in the tropical heat, waved to the pope with T-shirts and small Venezuela flags.

The highlights of his Venezuela trip are a mass Saturday at the new Virgin of Coromoto cathedral, 250 miles (400 kilometers) southwest of Caracas; and another one Sunday at La Carlota metropolitan airport in Caracas.

He will also address a mass gathering of young Christians in Caracas.

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