Jackson Asks Pope to Visit South Africa

Jesse Jackson said today that he appealed to Pope John Paul II during a private audience to go to South Africa to help fight the country’s policy of racial segregation.

The civil rights activist said he also raised four other issues with the pontiff during a 30-minute private audience: the nuclear arms race, hunger in Africa, the U.S. economy and peace in Central America.

But he told a news conference that the main topic was apartheid in South Africa.

Jackson said he told the Pope that there is a parallel between the situation in South Africa and the pontiff’s native Poland. He said independent unions in South Africa have been suppressed and their leaders jailed, just as the Polish labor union Solidarity was banned and its leaders jailed.

“We appealed to him to consider taking the same type action he took relative to Poland and when it is feasible for him to do so to visit South Africa,” Jackson said of the Pope.

He declined to discuss the Pope’s reactions or comments, saying it would not be proper for him to do so. However, he said he was pleased by his reception by John Paul.