Pope Calls for Morality Crusade by U.S. Faithful : Catholics: The pontiff urges 350,000 pilgrims to defy a ‘culture of death.’ He also greets, praises Vietnamese.

Climaxing a hectic four-day visit, Pope John Paul II on Sunday called for a morality crusade by American Catholics, summoning 350,000 pilgrims at a festive outdoor Mass to confront what he called an insidious, growing “culture of death” in modern society.

In his homily at a World Youth Day Mass in hot and dusty Cherry Creek State Park, John Paul launched fresh attacks against violence, discrimination, abortion and euthanasia. They were products, he said, of a century he damned for institutionalizing “horrible crimes against humanity” that have included genocide, the Holocaust and, most recently, “ethnic cleansing.”

“Woe to you if you do not succeed in defending life,” the Pope intoned under cloudless skies and a baking sun that sent droves of dehydrated pilgrims to aid tents.

Later, in an emotional meeting with about 15,000 representatives of Vietnamese Catholic communities in the United States and abroad, John Paul praised their success as new immigrants and urged them to preserve their culture, language and ties with their homeland. There are about 10 million Roman Catholics among the 70 million people in Vietnam, a nation never visited by a Pope who has traveled to more than 100 countries.

“There is strength in unity; there is only pain and scandal in division and conflict,” the Pope said in remarks aired by radio in Vietnam and intended to build bridges between the Vatican and the Vietnamese government.

“Reconstruction will only be possible with the cooperation of everyone, and this in turn calls for mutual respect, forgiveness and unity of purpose,” John Paul noted.

Still, the Polish-born Pope, who was a major catalyst in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, offered a challenge for the Hanoi government.

“All Vietnamese will be able to contribute to building a new and better society if civic and political structures correspond to the deepest aspirations of the people as a whole, aspirations to peace, justice and freedom.”

His words brought tears to the eyes of many.

“His words hit home so I just cried and cried,” said Trinh Nam, 25, of Long Beach. “Whatever happens, Vietnam is still our place of birth, and it only means more that the Holy Father recognizes that.”

The resilient 73-year-old pontiff hopscotched the Denver area again Sunday on the final day of a weeklong trip that also took him to Jamaica and Mexico. His stops included a meeting with emotionally disturbed children at a center run by Denver Catholics, where he held hands and sang with the youngsters.

As ever, John Paul brought excitement wherever he went. Stephen Myers, a 12-year-old Presbyterian, watched the morning Mass glued to a spotting scope: “I thought it would be great to say that the only Mass I ever attended was given by the Pope. This is a world-class event. Wow! So many people! Helicopters! McDonald’s stands! National flags and Port-o-potties!”

The Pope also brought food for thought to pilgrims like Fernanda Mejia, 26, from Villavicencio, Colombia: “At first, my goal was simply to see the Pope. Now, it’s different: I want to listen to his message. Everyone is looking for answers in these difficult times, and we need to start thinking about separating right from wrong.”

John Paul’s message Sunday was for Catholics to rally on the side of right in a world that has become a “theater of a never-ending battle being waged for our dignity and identity as free, spiritual beings.”

Once again, the papal rhetoric was fiercely righteous. And once again, as he did in a meeting with young people Saturday night, John Paul pruned his speech as he went along, perhaps due to his own weariness after a long week on the road.

For the record, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro said the cuts Sunday were purely a concession to time and the sapping heat. Papal speeches are laboriously assembled, but John Paul often abbreviates them late in the day or late in a trip.

With “a celebration of life,” the theme of the jamboree that attracted pilgrims from about 70 countries, John Paul warned against perils to life but did not read the three strongest sections in the prepared text:

“ ‘A culture of death’ seeks to impose itself on our desire to live, and live to the full. There are those who reject the light of life, preferring ‘the fruitless works of darkness.’

“Their harvest is injustice, discrimination, exploitation, deceit, violence. In every age, a measure of their apparent success is the death of the innocents.

“In our own century, as at no other time in history, the ‘culture of death’ has assumed a social and institutional form of legality to justify the most horrible crimes against humanity: genocide, ‘final solutions,’ ‘ethnic cleansings’ and the massive taking of lives of human beings even before they are born, or before they reach the natural point of death.”

Complaining that many people have lost touch with concepts of good and evil, the Pope decried attempts to “eradicate from human hearts the sense of gratitude and respect for the original, extraordinary and fundamental gift of God: human life itself.”

In that context, John Paul took a swipe at the media: “Vast sectors of society are confused about what is right and what is wrong, and are at the mercy of those with the power to ‘create’ opinion and impose it on others,” he complained.

Key institutions that define and reinforce a society’s moral standard are under siege, John Paul said.

“The family especially is under attack. And the sacred character of human life is denied. Naturally, the weakest members of society are the most at risk: the unborn, children, the sick, the handicapped, the old, the poor and unemployed, the immigrant and refugee.”

Calling himself “the pilgrim of hope,” the Pope urged Catholics to vigorously assert their values and their rights.

“Do not be afraid to go out on the streets and into public places, like the first Apostles who preached Christ and the good news of salvation in the squares of cities, towns and villages. This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel. It is the time to preach it from the rooftops,” he told the crowd at Mass in a restatement of a call to moral rearmament that emerged as a keynote of his third American visit and the first since 1987.

Before leaving on his 11 1/2-hour flight to Rome, the Pope held a private 25-minute meeting with Vice President Al Gore. The plane took off about 9:20 p.m. after having been delayed for several minutes.

Times staff writer Lily Dizon contributed to this story.