Pope Ends French Visit With Anti-Terrorist Plea

Pope John Paul II ended his four-day visit to France on Tuesday on the same theme on which he began it: expressing hope for an end to the threat of terrorist violence that prompted his hosts to mount an unprecedented security shield around him.

Shortly after arriving for his arduous tour of the basilicas of this southeastern region of France, the Pope had prayed for an end to violence. He had called on terrorists, guerrilla groups and warring governments to observe at least a one-day cease-fire on Oct. 27, when he has called a “world day of prayer.”

On Tuesday, after a half-hour airport meeting with Premier Jacques Chirac, the pontiff again asked that “France know the peace to which it has a right, that it be sheltered from troubles of international terrorism, which should be denounced by all of humanity. . . .”

Last month, a series of terrorist bombings in Paris killed 10 people and injured more than 160. A group called the Committee of Solidarity With Arab and Middle East Political Prisoners has claimed responsibility.

John Paul also had a private talk with French President Francois Mitterrand on Saturday, immediately after his arrival in Lyon, and according to a French government spokesman, the two discussed terrorism and the fate of seven French hostages in Lebanon.

Vatican spokesman Father Joaquin Navarro said the Pope would not comment on his talks with the two French leaders.

The pontiff, who was described as “not the least bit apprehensive” about the possibility of a terrorist attack during his visit, used his final words at Lyon’s Satolas Airport on Tuesday to thank the 12,000 police and troops who guarded his entourage throughout their tour.

A squad of 35 special agents surrounded him at every step but, according to Navarro, they were “so professional that we hardly noticed them.”

Sharpshooters guarded rooftops overlooking every motorcade route. Hundreds of thousands of French Catholics who attended the pontiff’s Masses were herded through metal detectors and searched at random, but there were no reported security incidents.

“I am deeply conscious of the difficult task demanded of the civilian and military authorities and all security personnel,” John Paul told his hosts at the departure ceremony.

Turning to his police guards and for the first time mentioning his own safety, he added thanks for “providing shelter from the risks which caused some people to fear for the person of the Pope and the massive crowds that gathered.”

As he had throughout the French pilgrimage, John Paul devoted most of his final day to purely religious themes, exhorting priests, nuns and lay persons to bolster the waning influence of the church in their country.

Although 80% of the French people profess Roman Catholicism, few regularly attend church, and many hold grave reservations concerning the traditional teachings that the Pope expounds.

He took sharp aim at the unorthodox thinking of some French Catholics during an address, shortly before his departure, to professors and students at the Catholic University of Lyon, warning them against “intellectual temptations” to stray from traditional church teachings.

“Today. . .there exists, in a spreading fashion, among certain Christians, the temptation of giving a lecture on the Bible that is guided by presuppositions foreign to the faith, to link the faith with a system built outside of it,” he said. “The duty of the theologian is to avoid this sort of ruinous substitution.”

Vatican ire has been particularly aroused by so-called liberation theology, as expounded by some Third World Catholic theologians. That philosophy often employs Marxist analysis in concert with biblical teachings to inspire revolutionary action by the poor.

After leaving Lyon, John Paul flew to Rome’s Ciampino Airport, arriving late Tuesday.