Calls for Cultural Harmony as Visit Ends : Pope Skips Controversy in New Zealand

Pope John Paul II pointedly sidestepped controversial issues today as he concluded a quiet two-day visit to New Zealand with a call for Christian unity and cultural harmony.

In what a member of his entourage called a deliberate effort to avoid stirring political controversy in a country whose prime minister has been outspokenly anti-nuclear, the pontiff skipped any mention of the nuclear threat, which is normally one of his favorite themes.

Nuclear power and nuclear testing have aroused strong feelings in New Zealand since Prime Minister David Lange announced a ban on visits by nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered American ships shortly after his election in 1984. He also has been outspoken in condemning French underground nuclear bomb tests in the South Pacific and has joined with 15 other nations in the region to declare the South Pacific a nuclear-free zone.

The issue became especially inflamed when French secret service agents sank the flagship of the Greenpeace environmental group, the Rainbow Warrior, in Auckland harbor in July, 1985.

A senior Vatican official said the pontiff has decided to avoid the issue entirely during what has proven to be a completely unruffled pastoral visit to this country.

John Paul also remained silent on nonpolitical issues within the New Zealand church that have aroused local Roman Catholics who account for about 14% of the country’s 3.3 million population. Catholic feminists had called upon him to address the question of more responsible roles for women in the church, including the priesthood, as the Church of England here allows. And the native New Zealand Maori people had expressed hope that he would name the first Maori bishop during his visit.

But except for a few private remarks during a meeting with New Zealand bishops in Wellington on Sunday, John Paul avoided both issues. One of the participants in the bishops’ meeting said the Pope was “open” concerning greater responsibilities for women--but not extending to the priesthood.

Bishop Peter Cullinane of Palmerston North said John Paul agreed that the Maori have expressed “a legitimate aspiration” in their desire for a Maori bishop.

In his final speeches here in Christchurch, the pontiff stuck to the relatively bland themes that have characterized most of his appearances during his current 14-day, 30,000-mile pilgrimage to the South Pacific-Indian Ocean region.

He urged New Zealanders of European descent and the native Maori to share their cultures “with mutual respect and fraternal love.”

‘Peace and Harmony’

“If, however, there are attitudes among you of racial and cultural superiority, exploitation or discrimination, such attitudes will obstruct justice. They will destroy harmony and peace,” the Pope said.

John Paul also addressed an ecumenical gathering of Catholics and Protestants, urging “honest dialogue” to achieve unity.

From New Zealand, the pontiff traveled to Canberra, Australia, to begin the most arduous segment of his current pilgrimage--a six-day, 6,000-mile journey to all nine of Australia’s major cities.