Pope strives to greet Slovaks in testing trip

DRAWN and trembling, Pope John Paul II struggled to greet Slovaks yesterday as he began a gruelling four-day visit that tested his age and ailments.

The frail 83-year-old pope, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and crippling hip and knee ailments, appeared short of breath and read his arrival remarks in a slurred voice.

Just one paragraph into the speech, he lost his place and asked an aide to read most of the rest before finishing the last paragraph himself, correcting himself several times for stumbling on words. On other foreign visits, aides have read portions of his speeches for the pope, but never his arrival texts.

“Although the pope wanted to continue to read, I think it’s logical to ease his burdens,” papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said later.

As in recent appearances, John Paul remained seated in a throne-like chair wheeled by aides. It took him 20 minutes to disembark from the plane.

Five thousand police officers and 500 special guards were deployed nationwide to secure the pope and his entourage during the trip, his third visit to the ex-communist country and the 102nd foreign pilgrimage of his papacy.

Reaching out to Slovakia, which joins the European Union next year, the pope touched on what has become a recurrent theme: a plea to Europeans to resist materialism and reaffirm traditional Roman Catholic family values.

“In the near future, your country will become a full member of the European community,” John Paul said at Bratislava’s airport.

“Dearly beloved, bring to the construction of Europe’s new identity the contribution of your rich Christian tradition. Do not be satisfied with the sole quest for economic advantages. Great affluence, in fact, can also generate great poverty.”

Cautioning that it would take “sacrifices and difficulties,” he called on Slovaks to build “a society respectful of human life in all its expressions that promotes the family as a place of reciprocal love and growth of persons, that seeks the common good and is attentive to the needs of the weakest.”

Later, the pope met with President Rudolf Schuster and thanked him for recently vetoing legislation that would have formalised the country’s abortion laws, a measure that triggered intense debate and a political crisis in the country.

Seven in 10 of Slovakia’s 5.4 million people are Catholics, and although there were almost no billboards promoting the pope’s visit, there was an air of expectation.