Pope Unperturbed by Iraq Visit's Detractors

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, Sept. 4—While Pope John Paul II's proposed trip to Iraq has yet to be confirmed, “critics are already beginning to protest it, from Iraqi dissidents to a major Jewish group,” said the Tribune's Steve Kloehn.

He added: “Senior Clinton administration officials have reportedly lobbied the Vatican for months to block the trip, and a State Department spokesman grumbled last month that Iraq would manipulate the visit for its own benefit.”

None of that appears to have swayed the 79-year-old Pope, observed Kloehn, who added that the Vatican may confirm the trip before the end of the month.

While the Holy See is acutely tuned to political conditions, and well aware of the effects a papal trip can have on international affairs, “the Pope is probably less worried … about dirtying his hands with the greetings of unsavory rulers,” said Kloehn.

In addition to meeting with Fidel Castro in Cuba last year, the Pope met with Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1981, Haitian strongman Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1983, and Chile's Augusto Pinochet in 1987.

“Each time, critics warned that by appearing alongside the dictator, the Pope would give legitimacy to the regime,” said the Tribune reporter. “But in retrospect, some scholars have credited the Pope's visits with helping to undermine these dictators, especially Duvalier.”

In a separate story on the same subject, Reuters reporter Philip Pulella quoted a Vatican source who said, “Experience shows that in the past the Pope's trips to even the most controversial places, and meetings with even the most controversial leaders have in the end helped to alleviate the sufferings of the people.”

Mosque Said to Hold Up Papal Visit to Nazareth

THE JERUSALEM POST, Sept. 3— Vatican unhappiness over the planned construction of a mosque next to an ancient Catholic church in Nazareth is the final sticking point in the effort to finalize a planned visit by Pope John II to Israel, according to the country's English-language daily.

Reporter Haim Shapiro quoted “Vatican sources in Jerusalem” who are unhappy over Moslem demands “that a mosque be erected on a plot which the municipality had earmarked for a plaza to be used by Christian pilgrims.”

The proposed mosque would be built only 22 yards from the Basilica of the Annunciation. “A Catholic source said Catholics do not oppose the building of a mosque, but [consider] it inappropriate to have a large mosque so near the church,” said Shapiro.

Nazareth is located within the Palestinian Authority, which the Pope is unofficially slated to visit on March 24, the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation. The basilica stands over the site where the annunciation of Christ's birth to Mary by an angel is believed to have taken place.

Meanwhile, Greek Orthodox Archbishop Damianos told the newspaper that plans are proceeding for the Pope to visit Mount Sinai in early December on the first of two planned visits to the Middle East.

Archbishop Damianos is Abbot of St. Catherine's Orthodox monastery, located at the foot of Mount Sinai on which Moses received the Ten Commandments.

Speaking in Tongues at St. Peter's — And D.C.

THE WASHINGTON POST, Sept. 8—A visit to the Washington area by a priest who frequently preaches at the Vatican prompted a story in the Post about the state of the charismatic renewal, and its standing with Pope John Paul II.

Franciscan Father Raniero Cantalamessa spoke at St. Mark's Church in Vienna, Va., where he discussed the modern application of spiritual gifts and exhorted participants to do more to evangelize their friends and neighbors.

“Jesus is Lord. God raised Him from the dead. And if you believe that in your heart, you are what?” the Italian priest asked the crowd. “Saved!” they replied in unison.

Father Cantalamessa first gave the Lenten retreat to the Pope and some 60 bishops and cardinals in 1980, the Post said.

The retreat was given three years after Father Cantalamessa was baptized in the Holy Spirit, an experience derived from the Book of Acts as empowering Christians with spiritual gifts to heal others and speak in unknown tongues.

The Post said the experience altered the ministry of Father Cantalamessa, who said he felt convinced of “the truth of the manifestation of the Spirit.” It prompted him to leave a prestigious teaching post at the University of Milan to spread the message that God is moving in a greater way. He said he frequently “sings in tongues — a beautiful way of prayer without passing through words.”

The Post also quoted Jesuit Father Francis Sullivan of Boston College who said, “The current Holy Father is favorably disposed to charismatic renewal.”

The movement, which began in the 1960s, continues to spread in developing nations, but has slowed somewhat in the United States, he said. As a sign of its inclusion in the mainstream of the Church, Father Sullivan said he has witnessed people “singing in tongues” in St. Peter's Basilica.