500,000 Welcome Pope : Biggest Crowd of Tour Cheers Pontiff’s 7-Mile Motorcade : He Urges Catholics to Shun Liberal Theology

Greeted by a warmly enthusiastic crowd estimated by police at between 500,000 and 700,000--the largest throng to turn out during his 10-day U.S. tour--Pope John Paul II arrived in Los Angeles this morning and set the tone of his two-day visit by firmly calling for Catholics to resist the pull of popular culture and liberal theology.

Los Angeles Archbishop Roger M. Mahony had hoped that up to 2 million people would watch the 7.2-mile motorcade, and Police Chief Daryl F. Gates had predicted 1 million. But, as has been the case in each of the Pope’s stops on his tour of the United States, the turnout fell below expectations.

Nevertheless, the parade--sections of which featured the most dense concentration of people the Pope has seen during his American trip--easily surpassed the 300,000 who attended an outdoor Mass in San Antonio on Sunday.

Predicted gridlock failed to materialize downtown despite street and freeway off-ramp closures.

Thousands of Balloons

Those who came to greet John Paul launched tens of thousands of yellow and white balloons--the Vatican’s colors--into the air as he passed. They hoisted signs in English, Spanish and Korean.

Some said they had come to pray for sick children or relatives who had recently passed away.

The only common complaint seemed to be that the pontiff’s glass-enclosed Popemobile, which was supposed to travel between 9 and 12 m.p.h., was going even faster.

The Pope, standing next to Mahony in the Popemobile, returned the crowds’ cheers with gentle waves and smiles.

The motorcade ended near St. Vibiana’s Cathedral downtown, where the Pope will reside during his visit. Entering the jammed, 111-year-old cathedral from the rear, the pontiff slowly walked up the aisle, accepting greetings from the invited guests, many of whom represented each of the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s 284 parishes. He allowed admirers to clasp or kiss his hands, and sometimes placed a palm gently on their foreheads.

4 Children Greet Him

The pontiff, who visited Los Angeles in 1976 as Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, Poland--two years before he ascended to the papacy--landed at Los Angeles International Airport at 9:45 a.m. from Phoenix. He was greeted by four children chosen to represent the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, a three-county region whose 2.7 million members make up the largest archdiocese in the nation.

“This is the happiest day of my life,” said one of the children, Nathalie Soueidan, 8, of St. Philip’s Parish in Sierra Madre, whose family left Lebanon two years ago.

A limousine took the Pope to Western near the Santa Monica Freeway, where he changed to the Popemobile and headed north on Western, then east on Olympic Boulevard, through Koreatown, the downtown Civic Center and Chinatown, toward St. Vibiana’s. He passed through festive bands of well-wishers ranging from an international peace choir to a group of Spanish guitarists to a band of Boy Scouts to 500 costumed Mexican cowboys to 1,500 Catholic Vietnamese.

There was literally a cop on every corner--in most cases, every 50 yards. The Los Angeles Police Department stationed 1,900 of its officers, more than a quarter of the force, throughout the motorcade.

Only one skirmish was reported. At Western and 18th streets in Koreatown, a group of people holding a large banner decrying the Pope as a “tool of Satan” scuffled with supporters of the Pope. Dozens of police intervened, and the banner was eventually shredded.

Bizarre Mementos

There seemed to be nearly as many vendors as officers, hawking pennants, calendars, buttons and T-shirts, some as bizarre as the shirt that used an Italian accent to favor the Polish pontiff, proclaiming, “I gotta peek atta da Pope”.

Explained salesman Mark Taylor, 24: “Some people say he’s Polish. Well, he lives in Rome. You can’t let it affect your marketing campaign.”

The crowds of the faithful, trying to anticipate the Pope’s penchant for getting close to people in spite of the gnashing of security men’s teeth, jammed themselves most densely near the end of the route and at the beginning, hoping that the Pope would slow the Popemobile and stay within sight--and possibly in reach. On Western Avenue and downtown, the crowds were thicker than at any other point on the U.S. visit.

The rest of the route was less heavily populated. Although parishes are assigned spots along the motorcade route, most sent early risers to “stake out” their places, with busloads of parishioners arriving later.

At 7 a.m. police outnumbered civilians at 1st and Broadway.

Spiritual Power Cited

“People in L.A, they’re so laid back they’re probably saying, ‘Well, I’ll videotape it and watch it later,’ cracked a policeman on duty at Olympic and Magnolia Avenue.

Many of those who came spoke of the spiritual power of the day.

Yolanda Aguayo, a young single El Monte woman, arrived at the corner of 1st and Los Angeles streets downtown at 4 a.m.

“I feel happy. I feel excited,” she said, holding a yellow balloon. “I feel like crying, really. I can’t explain it.

“He brings us closer to the church,” said Aguayo, who said she now thinks she may resume regular attendance at a Catholic church. “He wants to get closer to us. He’s not just someone you see on TV. He comes to the people.” Luis Alfonsin of Ensenada, Mexico, said he applied for a visa three months ago so he, his wife and four children could come here.

‘Light of the World’

“He is our savior on Earth, the light of the world,” Alfonsin said.

Anthony Mendoza, 42, of Eagle Rock, brought a small banner that read “Pray for Peace in Our Barrios.” He fixed it to parade barricade ropes and explained his message was aimed at street gang violence in Latino communities.

“There’s a lot of violence on the streets,” said Mendoza, a photocopy machine repairman. “Maybe this will help keep kids from getting hurt.”

Jose Cornejo, 32, of Santa Monica, who hangs vertical blinds for a living, told his boss he was taking the day off work.

“He’s No. 1 in the world,” said Cornejo, who was standing in a crowd of four people lined up four deep on Western and Washington.

Stern Warning

In his first visit as Pope to the heartland of glitz, John Paul quickly issued a stern warning to Catholics to yield not to temptation.

Before delivering the official welcoming ceremony at St. Vibiana’s after his motorcade, the Pope knelt in prayer at the altar while a choir sang.

His remarks first paid tribute to Los Angeles and its “people of different races and ethnic origins.”

Then he urged Catholics to uphold traditional morality “in the face of popular culture and peer pressure that is indifferent, if not hostile,” to Christian teachings.

“In a secularized world, to speak and act in the name of Jesus can bring opposition and even ridicule,” he said.

‘Speak the Full Truth’

The Pope also reaffirmed his well-known desire to rein in liberal churchmen, remarking that the need for Catholics to stand their ground is critical to “the clergy . . . who may sometimes find it difficult to speak the full truth of the church’s teaching because it is a ‘hard saying’ that many will not readily accept.”