Word: pontiff
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...suffer." That was the answer Pope John Paul II gave last week when newsmen aboard his Alitalia DC-10 jet asked him to explain the purpose of his visit to Central America. The remark may have seemed self-evident, but nothing so eloquently expressed why the 62-year-old Pontiff, who had already survived one close brush with death and a second attempt on his life last spring in Portugal, should feel compelled to risk his personal safety and the authority of his office to go on a pilgrimage to the most politically explosive strip of territory in the Western...
...Pope's greatest challenge was El Salvador, where guerrillas have in recent weeks made gains in their struggle against the conservative, U.S.-supported government. While the Pontiff prepared for his pilgrimage of peace, the Reagan Administration caused a political storm at home by arguing intensely that $60 million in additional military aid was needed in El Salvador (see following story...
...Airport to the delighted shrieks of hundreds of schoolchildren, he knelt to kiss the ground in his now traditional gesture of blessing. Then, almost immediately, he got down to tough business. Instead of offering a perfunctory response to the welcoming address by Costa Rican President Luis Alberto Monge, the Pontiff used the occasion to set forth the major themes of his pilgrimage...
...Pontiff seemed to shoulder the many burdens of the troubled region. He was visibly moved during a visit to youthful patients in the cancer ward of San José's National Children's Hospital. As he pinched the cheeks and tousled the hair of one young boy, the mother began to moan softly , "Touch my son, touch my son." But the Pope would see more of the ravages of suffering once his trip took him out of relatively stable Costa Rica...
...cease-fire while John Paul is in the country. As it is, the Pope will have to make peace within the church. Conservative supporters of the government fear that he is coming to make a plea for "dialogue" with the rebels, while some proponents of liberation theology see the Pontiff as a friend of the ruling "oligarchy." Caught in the middle is Archbishop Arturo Rivera y Damas, the temporary administrator of the Archdiocese in the capital city of San Salvador...