Mass Cut Short by Storm; Pope Reassures U.S. Jews : Lightning Forces Exit of 250,000

Pope John Paul II today reassured an audience of Jewish leaders that he supports their right to a homeland but believes the same right applies equally to the Palestinian people. He then moved on to deliver a denunciation of crime, corruption and contraception to a rain-soaked crowd of a quarter-million in a Mass that was halted by an electrical storm.

As rainstorms alternated with bursts of sunshine, the Pope was forced to occasionally speak from under the shelter of an umbrella held by an altar boy as he stood atop a three-story altar erected under sail-like canopies in Tamiami Park.

The Pope’s sermon, which was preceded by a special greeting to “Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and others from Central America and the Caribbean,” attacked “ideologies and life styles which acknowledge neither God nor the moral law.”

Families Under Pressure

“Family life is subjected to powerful pressures as fornication, adultery, divorce and contraception are wrongly regarded as acceptable to many,” he said.

As the rain and thunder intensified, the heavily Latino crowd--still waiting to be blessed by the Pope during a communion service at the end of the Mass--spontaneously sang a “Hallelujah” and urged him to continue.

But Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy announced that, because of fears that lightning might cause injuries, the Mass would be halted.

Ana Baldison, 28, wept as the Pope left. She had stayed, she said, “because I am very Catholic, and he is a saint. I wanted to touch him.”

Patience Rewarded

The Pope retreated to a sacristy behind the altar, where he celebrated the Eucharist with bishops and cardinals. About 5,000 people stayed, however, and they cheered as the Pope returned to544499813blessing in Latin.

“Adios, muchas gracias, “ he concluded.

“Viva Papa!” they chanted.

The Pope then flew to Columbia, S.C., where he was scheduled to lead a silent prayer service, meet with two dozen Protestant leaders and lead an evening church service.

The pontiff began his second day of a 10-day tour of the United States by attending a long-awaited meeting with 160 Jewish leaders at Miami’s Metro-Dade Cultural Center.

Programs With Jews

He received strong applause when he called for “common educational programs” between Catholics and Jews to promote mutual respect and “teach future generations about the Holocaust so that never again will such a horror be possible. Never again. . . . “

“We must reflect on the catastrophic event of the Shoah (the Hebrew word for the Holocaust), that ruthless and inhuman attempt to exterminate the Jewish people in Europe . . . only because they were Jews.”

Relations between Jews and the Catholic Church fell to their lowest point in decades in June when the Pope held a state visit with Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, accused by some Jewish groups of concealing his complicity with the Nazis during World War II and barred from entry to the United States.

Right to Homeland

The Pope said he supports the Jews’ historic demand for a homeland but said that right “also applied to the Palestinian people, so many of whom remain homeless and refugees.”

He also defended his predecessor Popes--particularly Pius XII, who reigned during World War II--against accusations that they remained silent in the face of the Holocaust.

Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, former president of the Synagogue Council of America, who addressed the Pope at the meeting, stressed that differences over the Waldheim visit remain to be resolved. Orthodox Jews forbade Rabbi Gilbert Klaperman, who had been scheduled to make the official Jewish statement to the Pope, to attend the meeting.

‘Still Much to Do’

“We still have much to do because Catholic-Jewish relations are often filled with ambivalences, ambiguities and a painful history which must be confronted,” Waxman told the Pope, who sat nearby, listened intently and occasionally seemed to nod in agreement.

After the meeting, the Pope traveled to Tamiami Park where he rode his Popemobile through cheering crowds of people, many of them clad in the gold and white colors of the Vatican and waving the flags of their homelands. The red, white and blue flag of Cuba far outnumbered the stars and stripes.

The event progressed in stages beginning with military-like pageantry, which gave way to a sensual modern-dance performance.

In the first in a series of outdoor Masses planned for his second U.S. tour, John Paul spoke in Spanish, Haitian Creole and English.

Startled by Thunder

At one point in the Mass, the Pope was startled out of prayer by a crack of thunder. Realizing the source of the disturbance, he smiled up at the clouds and returned to his meditation.

Many of those in attendance had surged into the grounds on Thursday--some lining up as early as 8 a.m. Today they endured not only drenching rains but temperatures reaching the high 80s.

Police reported at least 60 people were treated for minor injuries.

Meanwhile, in San Antonio, more than 100 people worked through this morning to clear the debris of two 150-foot decorative towers toppled by high winds Thursday evening at the spot where the Pope will offer mass on Sunday.