c. 1999 Religion News Service

BUCHAREST, Romania _ On Sunday (May 9), it was the people’s turn for Pope John Paul II.

After the pontiff held Friday and Saturday meetings with top government and church officials _ both Roman Catholic and Orthodox _ hundreds of thousands of Romanians thronged the center of their capital as Pope John Paul II and Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist each attended a worship service conducted by the other.

The pope, who ended his three-day trip here as the first Roman Catholic leader ever to visit an Orthodox land, also gave an undisclosed cash donation toward a construction of a planned new Orthodox cathedral.”I hereby express the wish that in the third millennium, if we are not totally united, we can at least move closer to full communion,”John Paul told his Orthodox hearers shortly before his 2:30 p.m. EDT departure.

The worship services _ extravagant pageants of music and liturgy, lavish robes and swaying censers _ drew throngs of Catholic and Orthodox faithful despite the wilting sun. Most worshippers were unable to attend the pope’s appearances the first two days of the visit, held in smaller churches and other venues with only enough room for selected dignitaries.

The visit here marked another milestone in John Paul’s efforts to improve relations with other religions, both Christian and non-Christian and could help pave the way for John Paul’s long-sought trip to Russia, home of the world’s largest Orthodox community. The Orthodox and Catholic churches split in 1054 over such issues as doctrinal issues as papal primacy and the proper wording and interpretation of the Nicene Creed. At that time, their respective leaders excommunicated each other _ an action retracted by their successors in 1966.

The visit was also marked by an unusual joint statement by John Paul and Teoctist calling for negotiations to end the war in neighboring Yugoslavia. John Paul also repeatedly paid tribute to the nation’s minority Catholics, including hundreds of thousands of Greek Catholics who follow Eastern liturgy but have a strained relationship with the Orthodox.

And while saluting Romanians for freeing themselves from”the nightmare of Communism,”he warned at airport departure ceremonies that the”dangerous dreams of consumerism (can) also kill the future.” But ecumenism, not economics, dominated the day.

At midday Sunday, the pope looked on as Teoctist presided over a three-and-a-half-hour Orthodox service in Union Square. About 100,000 worshippers packed in closely to watch a lengthy spectacle of Byzantine ritual. Teoctist stood on the purpose-built stage flanked by long-robed, long-bearded bishops and cantors intoned prayers and two choirs sang a nearly continuous succession of full-throated hymns.”Our churches here offer a foretaste of the image of the indivisible church,”said Teoctist.

Worshippers gamely endured the strong sun, but dozens fainted and most sheltered themselves with whatever they had with them _ headscarves, parasols or newspapers with headlines blaring out the previous day’s news of the papal visit.

In the midst of the Easter season of both churches’ liturgical calendar, John Paul and Teoctist separately shouted out the traditional formula,”Christ is risen!”The crowd’s hearty response,”He is risen indeed!”echoed off the walls of the apartment blocks ringing the vast plaza.

The square was built in the former regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who arranged for the demolition of historic homes and churches to make way for it. The open square is now the planned site of a future 2,000-seat cathedral, emblematic of the Orthodox Church’s resurgence after decades of communist persecution.

Teoctist said John Paul had given an unspecified donation _ described by an Orthodox spokesman as”substantial”_ toward the cathedral’s construction. At the start of the service, the pope blessed a cross marking the cathedral’s cornerstone.

Orthodox Metropolitan Daniel of the Romanian regions of Moldavia and Bukovina, considered a possible successor to the 84-year-old Teoctist, gave a sermon alluding to the pope’s effort at reconciliation. Citing the gospel story of Jesus’ patient instruction to the woman from foreign Samaria, Daniel said Jesus”crosses earthly boundaries in order to surpass mental boundaries, including the mental boundary of a nation’s superiority over another nation.” But Daniel also cited Jesus’ example on the limits of inter-religious dialogue.”Jesus does not confuse religions and does not promote syncretism. He does not relativize truth.” Later in the afternoon, it was Teoctist’s turn to be spectator as the pope celebrated Mass a few blocks in front of the pharonic House of the People, a 3,000-room marble complex left over from the communist era prior to the overthrow and execution of Ceausescu in 1989.

The largely Catholic crowd of about 200,000, sitting or standing in an unkempt, weedy park, roared”Viva Papa”repeatedly throughout the service. Added to the liturgy, celebrated in Romanian, were prayers in Hungarian, German and Polish, representing some of the country’s Catholic ethnic minorities.

Many Catholics in the crowd had traveled from regions of the country where they form larger minorities, such as Transylvania to the north.

But admiration for the pope transcended denomination at both services.”We are brothers and we are together,”said Catinca Bordan, 67, an Orthodox retiree from Bucharest who attended the first service.

Some voiced pragmatic hopes that the cachet of the pope’s visit would cause the West to notice Romania.”It can bring more trust from investors, to show that it’s a reliable country,”said Radu Trasca, 20, a student who said he has no religious belief but attended the Mass out of admiration for the pope.

For 15-year-old Catholic Bogdan Tiba of Bucharest, the pope’s visit was a rare moment of honor for Romania.”We are a small country,”he said.”I don’t know if he’ll return here.”

DEA END SMITH