Pope as Pilgrim

Yours is a land of ancient culture, the cradle of great religions, the home of a nation that has sought God with relentless desire. Rarely has this longing for God been expressed with words so full of the spirit of Advent as in your sacred books many centuries before Christ: "From the unreal lead me to the real, from darkness lead me to light, from death lead me to immortality."

--Pope Paul VI in Bombay

We are keen students of Catholic theology. We know the way in which St. Thomas Aquinas reconciled Christian with Aristotelian thought. In the same spirit, your council is now trying to reconcile Christian revelation with contemporary culture.

--India's President Radhakrishnan

The fond, impossible dream of Pope Paul VI, that pioneer of papal travel, is that some day he may go somewhere as a "simple pilgrim." That was how he wanted to style his trip to Bombay last week to attend the 38th International Eucharistic Congress. He envisioned himself meeting and perhaps ministering to the poor, the hungry, the sick. Scorning to charter a plane, he simply bought a first-class ticket (fare: $985.20).

But such a pilgrimage could not be. The Vatican, the Indian government, the relentless exigencies of the press, and even Air India foiled the Pope. The airline closed off part of the first-class compartment, provided a raven-haired stewardess in a striped silk sari, and painted the papal coat of arms on the plane. The Indians, as might have been foreseen, discouraged any extensive visits to the poor as an uncalled-for stress on the country's poverty. The Vatican sent along cardinals and priests and supplied tapes of Handel and Vivaldi to be played on the plane. Photographers crowded the plane, and made part of the trip a chaos of flashbulbs.

A Million Cheer. Thus the pilgrimage grew grand. On hand at Bombay's Santa Cruz airport to meet the Pope were India's diminutive Prime Minister Lai Bahadur Shastri, stately, goateed Moslem Vice President Zakir Hussain (wearing white Congress caps that paired with Paul's white skullcap), and the country's leading industrialist, J.R.D. Tata.

A million frantic Indians turned out to cheer the Pope, shoving and pushing wildly to get a glimpse of him. His white Lincoln Continental convertible took an hour and a half to crawl the 13 miles of highway from the airport to the Eucharistic Congress. Giant signs along the route proclaimed India's welcome: LONG LIVE THE POPE, NO GREATER LOVE HATH ANY MAN, JOY ICE CREAMS WELCOME PAUL VI. A bit jokingly, a brilliant sign all awash in white lights on Marine Drive in Bombay blared: BIRTH CONTROL CENTER FOR SEX HEALTH.

Serving Mankind. The next 21 days were filled with official functions, receptions, prayers at Roman Catholic churches, meetings with Catholic priests and nuns and representatives of India's religious communities--the dominant Hindus, the minority Moslems, Buddhists (see cover), Zoroastrians, non-Catholic Christians. Said the Pope to the religious leaders: "We must come closer together. We must come together with our hearts, in mutual understanding, esteem and love."

From far-off Assam came Catholic Naga tribesmen to represent India's poor, coals-to-Newcastle style. They gave the Pope a ceremonial spear. Paul sipped Coca-Cola with India's President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. At a Bombay orphanage he knelt to give first Communion to 22 small, crew-cut boys.

At the consecration of six new Roman Catholic bishops in Bombay, the Pope spoke of the mission of the church: "We are obedient to the love of Christ--that immense love, pouring forth upon all peoples, upon all the men of this earth." But this message, so earnestly and eloquently repeated, frequently got lost in the cheers of the crowd, which had essentially come to see the guru, the holy man from the West in the white cassock and skullcap. Many of the Hindus believed that to see the Pope and perhaps touch him would heal them or bring them luck.

Nothing but Good. Although he had mingled only fleetingly with India's poor, the Pope had seen the immense, absolute misery of millions. Along the highway to the airport he saw shacks of cardboard, wood and tin, and dirty puddles of water in which people bathe and wash their clothes. He had seen India's biggest problem--the ever-present emaciated mothers and the hungry children.

On Saturday Pope Paul winged back to Rome for a triumphal homecoming that contrasted with his almost furtive, predawn departure for India. Aboard the Alitalia jet, there was a brief scare when escorting Turkish jets flew too close, but mostly the Pope could relax and collect his thoughts and impressions. In India he had spoken to thousands, had been seen by millions. He had impressed them with his asceticism, humility, devotion to truth, man's welfare and peace. He had stressed the need for social justice, "food, clothing, and decent housing for millions." He had shown that the Roman Catholic Church is universal, bearing its message to Asia as well as the Western world. Assessing the impact of the Pope's trip, the Times of India concluded: "Nothing but good can emerge from his visit."

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