Pope Rejoices at Democracy’s Rise : Easter: John Paul II hails the fall of ‘godless ideologies’ and sends words of hope to Lithuania.

In a powerful and upbeat message to cheering Easter pilgrims, Pope John Paul II on Sunday hailed the “reawakening of many democracies” that have suffered war and dictatorship waged “in the name of godless ideologies.”

Tens of thousands of brightly clad worshipers defied glowering skies to attend a papal Mass on the flower-dressed steps of St. Peter’s Basilica, followed by John Paul’s first “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) Easter message since the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.

While making plain his satisfaction with moves toward peace there, the Pope also echoed one of his favorite themes, telling rich nations that their wealth and freedom carries with them the moral obligation to aid the world’s have-not majority.

“Let yourselves be convinced that there can be no freedom where misery continues to exist,” the Pope bluntly declared in ceremonies broadcast to more than 50 countries around the world.

In a special greeting delivered in Lithuanian, the Pope prayed for peace in the breakaway Soviet republic with the hope that the will of the people there “will be confirmed through respectful and comprehensive dialogue.” On Saturday, John Paul cabled Lithuania’s Cardinal Vicentas Sladkevicius expressing support in “these hours of trepidation and hope.”

For the polyglot ceremony marking the Resurrection of Jesus, the holiest feast day for the world’s 850 million Roman Catholics, the 69-year-old Pope preached from the Gospel of St. John (16:33): “I have overcome the world!”

“Only the risen Christ can fully satisfy your irrepressible yearning for freedom,” John Paul said, addressing people “of our time.”

As fat, cold drops of rain began to sprinkle the crowd, the Pope applauded progress of human beings toward burying their violent past.

“After the horrors of two world wars and all the (other) wars which in these last 60 years, often in the name of godless ideologies, have reaped the harvest of victims and sewn hatred in so many nations . . . the true dimensions of the spirit have been discovered anew,” the Pope said.

“Today as well,” John Paul continued, “the awakening of many democracies is leading to dialogue and trust between peoples; and the world is coming to understand once again that man cannot live without God.”

Stressing the internationality of John Paul’s concerns, participants in his Easter Mass addressed the giant crowd in Italian, Spanish, English, Albanian, Polish, Portuguese, German and French. After his address, the Pope delivered his customary Easter greetings in all of those languages and more than two dozen others, ranging from Croatian to Thai, from Hebrew to Mandarin.

“A blessed Easter in the joy of Jesus Christ, the risen Lord and Savior of the world,” he said in English.

Respectful pilgrims from Poland and other Eastern European countries mixed in the giant plaza before St. Peter’s with richer West Europeans and the African and Filipino residents who give a Third World flavor to many corners of Rome.

John Paul recalled his exhausting January trip to five of the poorest nations on earth, in Africa’s Sahel region.

“I have been in the Sahel, and I have seen the sand burying villages, drying up wells, burning the eyes, turning children into skeletons . . . as it brings desperation, starvation, sickness and death--death from hunger and thirst,” the Pope said.

Again and again in his African trip, John Paul urged that Third World needs not be overlooked in the rush to aid emerging democracies in Eastern Europe.

Sunday, with the graphic account of the suffering he had witnessed in Africa, John Paul spoke directly once again to “wealthy nations of the civilization of opulence.”

“Do not be indifferent to this great tragedy,” he pleaded. “Let human and Christian solidarity be the challenge that provokes your conscience. . .”

John Paul’s twin concerns for the development of democracy in Eastern Europe and the fight against hunger in poor southern nations will be reflected in his remaining trips this year. On Saturday, he leaves for a two-day visit to Czechoslovakia. On May 6, he goes to Mexico, and in the fall he returns to Africa.

Easter IN JERUSALEM: Thousands of Christians join observance in Jerusalem. A11