c. 1999 Religion News Service
UNDATED _ Pope John Paul II ended his last full day in Mexico City celebrating a private Mass Monday with an elite group of the country’s rich and powerful and then greeting what the Vatican billed as a”meeting of the generations of the 20th century.” The spectacular”generations”event will take place on a slowly revolving stage in the city’s 114,000-seat Aztec Stadium, one of the largest in the world and the site of World Cup soccer matches in 1979 and 1986.
The 78-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff, who suffers the debilitating effects of a neurological ailment believed to be Parkinson’s disease, scheduled only two other appointments Monday. On Tuesday, he will fly to St. Louis, Mo., where he will meet with President Clinton.
As he frequently does at his Vatican residence in the apostolic palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square, the pope invited guests to a private Mass and later lunched with prelates.
About 200 guests attended the Mass on the theme of”The Conversion of St. Paul,”which John Paul celebrated in the apostolic nunciature, the residence and offices of the Vatican’s envoy to Mexico, Archbishop Justo Mullor Garcia, where he is staying.
Some of those attending the private Mass said John Paul urged the 200 bankers, politicians and business leaders in attendance to”strengthen the spirit”by bringing religious values into public life.
Others saw it as an effort by the church to balance the strong message of economic justice for the poor that has marked much of his four-day visit here and noted that he has talked about the need of the church to minister to both the rich and the poor.
The evening extravaganza in Aztec Stadium, televised live through most of the hemisphere and also in the small hours of Tuesday in Italy, featured families of three and four generations whose lives have bridged the 20th century. They came from throughout the Americas and from a wide spectrum of professions, social classes and traditions.
Vatican officials said the families were chosen to embody the social and cultural mosaic of the continent and the dynamic exchange among generations.
More than 1,000 VIP’s from 36 countries also were invited to attend the ceremony at which the pope will bless a”cross of light”and pray for the generations of the century.
In his homily, the pope will challenge the 500 million Catholics of the western hemisphere to make the Americas”the continent of hope,”officials said.
He will underscore what he considers the major issues facing the Americas today _ abortion, birth control, euthanasia and the death penalty, which he says make up a”culture of death,”as well as genetic manipulation of life, migration, the selfishness of”individualism”and the sharp contrast between opulence and poverty.
John Paul’s message urges Catholics to follow a”road of hope toward the third millennium of Christianity”by accepting a”culture of life,”helping the poor and oppressed and committing themselves to their parish and family, the sources said.
Later, the pope met over lunch with cardinals from throughout the Americas and the heads of the 24 national and two regional episcopal conferences.
It was John Paul’s first meeting with the church leaders since publication Saturday of his”apostolic exhortation”based on the deliberations of 200 bishops from the western hemisphere at the Vatican in late 1997 to plan the course of the church in the third millennium of Christianity.
The 140-page document commits the church to fight poverty and injustice, sets out the church’s position on moral issues and calls on Catholics to join in a”new evangelism”aimed at consolidating Christianity throughout the Americas and countering Pentecostals and Protestant evangelicals, whose conversions of Hispanic Catholics are a major concern to the church.
DEA END POLK
