Pope Shrugs Off Dangers on Arrival in Angola : Africa: Rumors suggest possible trouble during pontiff’s visit. But he points to faith in ‘divine Providence.’

Brushing aside concerns for his safety, a relaxed Pope John Paul II ventured anew into Africa on Thursday with a message of peace and reconciliation for a nation uncertainly emerging from a ruinous civil war.

“Angola, I come with the spirit of friendship, of respect and of trust. You can realize your destiny as a free and fraternal country,” the Pope told officials and a small, cheering crowd at Luanda Airport.

Reports of possible disorders during his weeklong visit rode with the 72-year-old Pope from Rome on Thursday as he launched the 55th foreign trip of his reign.

A senior Vatican official discounted what he called “rumors without much substance” that foretold possible trouble at papal ceremonies in Luanda and during the Pope’s visit Monday to the oil-rich enclave of Cabinda. “We hear this kind of thing before almost every trip; there’s nothing special this time,” the official said.

The Pope himself, seeming pleased as ever to escape for a few days from Vatican strictures, gave short shrift to suggestions that the Angola visit, his ninth to Africa, might be risky.

Angolan bishops had been insistent in their invitation, John Paul told 50 international reporters traveling on his plane. “They said, ‘You must come because we need your visit.’ So we’ll see. It’s always divine Providence that guides us,” John Paul said.

A nation of 10 million that is three times the size of California, Angola has been devastated by a civil war that began before it achieved independence from Portugal in 1975 and that continued until last year.

Now, rivals once armed and supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba on one hand and the United States and South Africa on the other are preparing to compete in the country’s first multi-party elections, set for September.

An uncertain peace, marred by guerrillas seeking independence for Cabinda, made possible a visit that the Pope had long hoped to make to one of the last major countries in Africa he has not already toured.

Speaking Portuguese in response to a welcoming address at the airport here by Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, the Pope said Angola had been in his thoughts over the years in a mixture of “concern and confidence.”

“I have followed the various steps that have marked the Calvary of the construction of your freedom and identity as a people,” he said. “I have come as a pilgrim of love and of hope. I bring with me the good news of reconciliation and of peace for this beloved people.”

As the Pope spoke, workers in a corner of the airport unloaded international aid from a rented Russian transport for Angolans displaced by the civil war.

Dos Santos, whose Marxist party policies and rhetoric have moved to the pluralistic mainstream since the collapse of communism, proclaimed his “respect for the faith” Thursday and praised the Pope’s mission of goodwill.

“The Catholic Church is playing an important role in the transition and the pacification of spirits,” Dos Santos said.

Today, the Pope tours Angolan provincial cities. On Saturday he makes a daylong visit to the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe.