Pope Savors Pastoral Pursuits During His Visit to the Galilee

Tracing the footsteps of Jesus in the land of biblical miracles and modern-day conflicts, Pope John Paul II stood Friday on a gentle slope overlooking the Sea of Galilee and appealed to thousands of young people to act for good in the world, warning them against the “voice of evil” that glorifies pride, hatred and war.

Nearing the end of a weeklong Holy Land pilgrimage that has been buffeted by the Middle East’s divisive politics, John Paul seemed buoyed by a day spent almost entirely in pastoral pursuits in the evocative biblical landscape of the Galilee.

On the Mount of Beatitudes, where tradition says Jesus selected his apostles and delivered the Sermon on the Mount, the pope celebrated an open-air Mass with tens of thousands of joyous Christians, at least half of them young people who had flown in from nations around the world.

The colorful Mass, broadcast live on Israeli television, was the largest gathering of Christians in the Jewish state, with 80,000 to 100,000 in attendance, police said. It was a fervent celebration of Christianity in a place where Jesus is said to have lived, taught and walked on water, but where his flock has long been a diminishing presence. Christians now account for about 2% of the population in Israel and the Palestinian areas.

Clad in robes of ivory and gold, the 79-year-old pontiff spoke in an unusually strong and animated voice, echoing the words and rhythms of the sermon in which Jesus told the multitudes that the good would be blessed and the meek would inherit the earth.

Seated in a high-backed chair under a black canvas canopy, the pope delivered a powerful message of support for the world’s weak and persecuted, and he urged his listeners to choose between the “two voices competing for your hearts even now on this hill.”

“Which voice will the young people of the 21st century choose to follow?” he asked. “To put your faith in Jesus means choosing to believe what he says, no matter how strange it may seem, and choosing to reject the claims of evil, no matter how sensible or attractive they may seem.”

Many in the crowd appeared thrilled by the presence of the pope, who arrived in his glass-enclosed popemobile to approving whistles and shouts. Banners and flags from dozens of countries--Mexico, Romania, Germany, Lebanon, Canada, Poland, Israel and others--swirled in the air, symbols of how far those gathered had traveled. Young people danced and sang, and a few played guitars and bongo drums.

“My feet are aching, but there’s no place I’d rather be now, because this is where Jesus made his miracles,” said Alfredo Balintong, 46, who had traveled from Manila and had been standing in the same spot for five hours when the Mass began.

Some had arrived even earlier, braving overnight storms to trudge in early to the muddy plain where the Mass was celebrated, partway up the slope of the famous mount. Some huddled for warmth under blankets or took naps on plastic sheeting laid out on the mud. But no one seemed to mind.

Georgette Loulo, 37, said she had never seen so many Christians together. “When the last pope came, I was only 1 year old,” said Loulo, a secretary from nearby Nazareth. “Maybe when the next one comes, I’ll be dead. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”

“I’m so excited, I’m trembling,” said Katie Seman, 24, a student of philosophy and political science from Haifa in northern Israel. “I wanted to see the pope because he’s the most important person in the world right now. I believe in [his] message of peace.”

Later in the day, the pope was hailed from a different quarter, when he met with Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the guest house of an Italian convent on the Mount of Beatitudes.

“The visit of the pope to Israel became an event of immense historical importance,” Barak told reporters after a friendly, 15-minute encounter. “It became a major step toward reconciliation between the Jewish people and Christianity” and could improve the atmosphere for peace negotiations, the prime minister said.

The two men had also spoken Thursday during an emotional ceremony at Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, where the pope expressed deep sadness for centuries of Christian persecution of Jews.

Barak said he briefed John Paul on the status of the Israeli-Arab peace process and asked him to use the Vatican’s influence to help locate Israeli soldiers who went missing shortly after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982. The meeting Friday started behind schedule, and Barak had to rush his news briefing afterward so that he could reach overnight lodging in nearby Tiberias with barely minutes to spare before the start of the Jewish Sabbath at sundown.

Such religious and political issues are of tremendous import here, and John Paul, who wanted his visit to be viewed as a personal pilgrimage, has been dogged throughout by claims from Israel and the Palestinians, particularly on the emotional question of Jerusalem.

At an interfaith meeting in Jerusalem on Thursday, both the Jewish and Muslim participants, in the presence of the pope, publicly staked claims to the future of the holy city, to the chagrin of many of the event’s organizers.

On Friday, Vatican chief spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls spoke candidly about the fractious encounter. “If there are real problems here, it’s good that they come out,” he said. “If the problems are real, then it would be fictitious to walk in the stars and not on the Earth.”

But such political controversies intruded only in minor ways into the pope’s Galilee Mass. A group from Lebanon held up a Lebanese flag and a picture of Gen. Antoine Lahad, the commander of the Israeli-allied South Lebanon Army, which is waging a war across the border with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

Israel has said that it will withdraw from southern Lebanon by July, and the militia fears that it will be abandoned. “Unilateral Withdrawal Massacre,” a sign said.

Before returning to Jerusalem, the pope prayed in silence at four churches dotting the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee, where, according to the Gospels, Jesus performed miracles.

The journey appeared to have a salutary effect on John Paul, who suffers symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. To visit the sanctuary at the top of the Mount of Beatitudes, he walked up 15 steps and then back down with only the help of his cane; he usually has an aide at each elbow while negotiating stairs.

Next, he went to the airy limestone church at Tabgha that tradition says is the site where Jesus multiplied a small number of fish and loaves of bread to feed thousands of people. The pope prayed there in silence for several minutes and then visited a church built over the rock where Jesus is said to have asked the apostle Peter to “feed my lambs,” or lead his church. The pope, whom Catholics consider the successor of Peter, kissed and blessed the stony outcropping inside the church.

Finally, John Paul stopped at the ruins of a stone structure said to have been the home where Peter lived in the biblical town of Capernaum. Stanislao Loffreda, the Franciscan priest and archeologist who is excavating the site, gave his guest a tour and a recently unearthed oil lamp from the time of Jesus.

“Keep digging, if your health permits,” the pope told the 68-year-old Italian.

There the day’s pilgrimage ended with a poignant tribute. Ten prelates from John Paul’s entourage stood in the garden, encircled the seated pope and sang a hymn in Latin. “Tu es Petrus,” the hymn began. “You are Peter.”

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Boudreaux reported from the Galilee and Trounson from Jerusalem.