Pope Appeals for an End to Arms Race : Admits Church Bias Against Women, Sees No Hope of Change

Pope John Paul II knelt in prayer before a cross of red poppies today at a Flanders Field shrine for victims of the bloody World War I battle and delivered a moving appeal for an end to the arms race.

Earlier, in Antwerp, the Pope conceded that women suffer from “certain forms of paternalism and discrimination” in the Roman Catholic Church but offered no hope of change in Vatican policy forbidding ordination of women to the priesthood.

John Paul visited a stone arch erected in Ypres in 1927 to honor nearly 55,000 Allied soldiers whose remains were never found after the fighting near this west Belgian town of 35,000.

“If we remain silent, the arms race will continue and will absorb funds, energy and creativity,” the pontiff told more than 30,000 cheering, singing people in the town’s main square after visiting the stone arch, called the Menin Gate.

Site of 5 WWI Battles

Ypres was the site of five major World War I battles pitting French and British forces against the Germans between August, 1914, and October, 1918. The remains of 500,000 soldiers lie in individual and mass graves in 170 cemeteries near the town.

John Paul frequently has called on Washington and Moscow to improve dialogue to reduce the threat of nuclear war and calm East-West tensions. But he has also criticized the potential dangers of pacifism, particularly in the face of communism.

“Involvement in the cause of peace must be accompanied by a clear understanding of the principles and values at stake,” he said.

Standing in front of a drawing of a giant dove, John Paul denounced countries that are “gripped by the dream of supremacy” and try to conquer other nations.

“Those who possess a sense of reality and love for true freedom and dignity of individuals and of nations are thus convinced of the legitimacy of the right to defend oneself against an unjust aggressor,” he said.

‘War Never Again’

But he received prolonged applause when he repeated in French, Dutch and English, “War Never Again,” a phrase written on many World War I graves in the area.

Meeting earlier with church workers at the cathedral at Antwerp, the Pope acknowledged that women in the church “suffer because of certain forms of paternalism and discrimination.”

“The Christian community must value the contribution and the contribution of women. It must be grateful to them,” he said.

But he gave no indication of a change in church policy--which he reiterated earlier in his trip--barring women from the priesthood.

The Pope was on the second day of his visit to Belgium, where he stirred rousing cheers and applause Thursday in Brussels by extolling traditional Roman Catholic values as a haven in the modern world.