Pope, in Tropical Rain, Honors Martyr : Religion: The pontiff beatifies a lay preacher slain half a century ago. Fewer than 10,000 attend the rite in a downpour in Papua New Guinea.

Pope John Paul II donned red vestments in a soccer stadium lashed by a tropical downpour here to solemnly inscribe the name of a martyred lay preacher in the Roman Catholic Church’s “archives of truth written in letters of blood.”

Beatification of slain catechist Peter ToRot opened the three-stop hero-honoring segment of John Paul’s 11-day Asian swing. He will also beatify potential saints in Australia and Sri Lanka before returning to Rome on Saturday.

As many people--4 million--attended a papal Mass in Manila on Sunday as live in all of Papua New Guinea, and fewer than 10,000 braved the opening salvo in this Micronesian nation’s annual rainy season to attend Tuesday’s beatification. Still, the 74-year-old pontiff prayed as hard with the thousands as he had with the millions--and with similar impact.

In a jungle nation where most people still live in a barter economy and 70% are illiterate, the church, in fierce competition for converts with Protestant groups, claims 1.3 million members. For these adherents, John Paul is papa sanctu --holy father in pidgin English, the unifying tongue among 869 native languages. Catholics hail him as nambr wan samting tru (No. 1 something true)--the best.

Bare-breasted male and female pilgrims in headdresses and grass skirts greeted John Paul with well-practiced signs of the cross as he arrived for the sodden Mass. Members of another ethnic group in colorful cloth skirts performed sinuous indigenous dances.

An honor guard of red-skirted warriors from his native New Britain island carried ToRot’s bones to a small thatched hut of palm leaves near the altar for papal blessing.

ToRot, 33 when he died, ministered to Catholics in his village of Rakunai after missionary priests were interned during World War II. He refused repeated orders from the Japanese to abandon his mission. ToRot was arrested and killed with a lethal injection by a Japanese military doctor, according to the church biography prepared for his beatification.

“Fear of suffering and death did not deter him. During his final imprisonment, Peter ToRot was serene, even joyful. He told people that he was ready to die for the faith and for the people,” the Pope said.

John Paul admires such constancy of faith and is rewarding it at an unprecedented pace. ToRot is the 607th Catholic of “heroic virtue” whom John Paul has beatified in his 16-year reign.

As a “blessed,” ToRot is one step away from full sainthood. As a saint, he would be deemed worthy of honor by the entire 950-million-member church.

The Pope believes in institutionalizing role models where the church is young--as in Papua New Guinea--under pressure, or in need of a boost. Historically, most blesseds and saints have been priests or nuns, but the Pope is especially fond of honoring married lay Catholics such as ToRot.

A Philippine resident of Port Moresby was arrested trying to enter the stadium with a gun before the Mass on Tuesday but was later released.

And, it turned out Tuesday, two Iranian businessmen whom police began seeking Monday after a tip that they might pose a threat to the Pope had in fact left the country on Jan. 9.

More on the Pope

* Reprints of “The Pope’s Passion for New Saints,” an overview of the pontiff’s 11-day Asian trip, are available from Times on Demand. Call 808-8463, press *8630 and order item No. 6032. $2.

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