REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK : Pickpockets Among Crowd at Park Mass

Not all the people celebrating Mass in Central Park on Saturday were taking Pope John Paul II’s message in the spirit he intended. New York City police reported at least three wallets stolen from unsuspecting worshipers during the morning service. “I think it’s incredible,” said Police Officer Joe Walsh, a 27-year veteran of the force. “At first, I thought about how low it was, but then I thought about it some more and realized nothing surprises me.”

As of Saturday night, one suspected pickpocket was under arrest. Two of the wallets remained unaccounted for.

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What does John Paul II have in common with Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union? When they visit the United States, they both like to wade into crowds and press the flesh, driving their security forces crazy.

After the saying of the rosary at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Saturday, the Pope abruptly passed up a ride in his limousine in favor of a stroll along 5th Avenue.

As spectators pressed up to touch the Pope, the crowd became so thick that most could see nothing more than the top of the pontiff’s white miter. Police gently gave the Pope a little breathing room, and New York Cardinal John J. O’Connor walked with him to point out the sights.

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Members of the New York Police Department’s elite emergency service unit are frequently called upon for dramatic action: snatching jumpers from bridges, raiding apartments where hostages are held and performing rescues at disasters.

During the Pope’s sermon in Central Park, they had to perform a more mundane function.

Dozens of portable toilets had been scattered around the park for the crowd, many of whom had arrived hours early. But unaccountably, many of the toilets were locked. Ever resourceful, the police snapped the locks with bolt cutters.

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New York’s souvenir hawkers never miss a trick, and this week they took the opportunity provided by the Pope’s visit to move hundreds of papal sweat shirts ($35) and rosaries ($15). Another hot item was bottled Castle Spring Water ($3) with a special commemorative stamp bearing the logo of the Mass in Central Park.

But as the Pope’s sojourn in New York drew to a close Saturday, bargains could be found. Vendors stuck with a glut of T-shirts were selling them for only $5.

Alex Hartley, for one, had little regard for this crass commercialism. “The Pope isn’t Mickey Mouse,” said Hartley, an 18-year-old college student who attended the Central Park Mass. “Don’t put him on T-shirts.”

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For at least one souvenir booth operator, the Pope drew the kind of unruly crowd sometimes associated with rock concerts.

Brian White, a 21-year-old vendor at Giants Stadium, was overwhelmed Thursday as the Pope’s flock descended on his stand in search of rosaries and T-shirts commemorating the Pope’s visit.

“Everyone was screaming, ‘Let me get this or that,’ yelling at me to hurry,” White said, grimacing. “Finally I looked up and said, ‘Patience is a virtue,’ and everyone laughed and it got calmer for a while. But then those people left and it all started over.”

“Definitely,” he concluded, “the concert crowd is better.”

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It was, according to the Secret Service, only a case of “too much enthusiasm.”

Authorities seized and then released an unidentified New Yorker who volunteered to help the U.S. Park Service direct traffic for the Pope’s visit to St. Joseph’s Seminary on Friday. The man showed up with a pistol he was licensed to use only on a firing range.

“After his detention, we decided he posed no threat whatsoever,” said Secret Service spokesman Gerry Byrnes. “He used poor judgment bringing along the pistol. It was just a little too much enthusiasm on his part.”

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How do you get box seats to see the Pope? It helps to have relatives in high places.

It was not by luck alone that a group of elderly parishioners from St. Joseph’s Home for the Elderly in Totowa, N.J., were among those who were protected from the heavy rain that pelted them during Thursday’s outdoor service at Giants Stadium.

As it happens, St. Joseph’s residents include Edna McLaughlin, who is the aunt of Theodore H. McCarrick, who is the archbishop of Newark, N.J. McCarrick made sure that St. Joseph’s residents had sheltered seats; even with them, only 11 of the home’s 113 residents were healthy enough to spend the day waiting to see John Paul.

McLaughlin was among them. “Naturally, he knows I want to see the Pope,” McLaughlin said of her prominent nephew. “He calls me every evening.”

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Remember the Neil Simon movie “The Prisoner of Second Avenue?” Some residents of Manhattan’s spiffy Upper East Side, where the Pope stayed at the Vatican mission to the United Nations, grumbled that they felt like the prisoners of East 72nd Street.

To get to their homes, residents had to show special identification cards to the officers who guarded each end of the block where the Pope was staying. Police then escorted them to their doors.

A white concrete barrier was installed down the center of 72nd to thwart car bombs. A white tent was erected in front of the mission to protect the Pope against the weather and snipers as he gets in and out of his limousine. The mailbox on the corner was removed. Bomb-sniffing dogs showed an interest in all packages (especially pizza), but residents who own dogs couldn’t even think of walking them on 72nd Street.

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In advance of the Pope’s appearance in Central Park, police cleared worshipers from the walkways to maintain lanes for people to move. Some in the crowd tried to sit on benches on the edges of the paths.

“You can’t sit here,” a police officer said to three elderly women with crucifixes dangling over their jackets.

“Why not?” pleaded one. “We walked 26 blocks to get here.”

“All right,” the officer said, “a couple of minutes.”

All the women stood up and saluted before sitting back down on the bench.