Pope omits Syria in call for sovereignty

IT WAS a dialogue of the deal. Many of the Maronite Catholic youths at Pope John Paul II's Saturday night Mass taped their mouths shut or raised bound wrists above their heads to signify persecution" at the hands of Syrian troops and the pro Syrian Lebanese government. "Freedom, freedom, freedom," they shouted during the Pope's homily.

Pierre Najm, a student who addressed the youths' gathering, summed it up: "We ask you [the Pope] to dare to say out loud what we are afraid to say, and what we have lost the habit of expressing. Be our courage and name things by their name. Be our cry of pain by carrying our voice to the whole world."

Lebanese Catholics had hoped the Pope would, like their own bishops two years ago, call for the withdrawal of 35,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon. But in his response to the bishops - a 200 page apostolic exhortation which was signed here at the weekend the Pontiff said only that Lebanon "must regain full independence stopping short of explicitly calling for a Syrian withdrawal.

Their hopes that the Pope's two day visit would shake Syrian power were unfounded, but that did not prevent the Lebanese from giving John Paul II a tumultuous welcome.

There was no doubting the enthusiasm of the crowds who chanted "Viva El Baba" as they showered the Popemobile with rice and rose petals. At least 10 per cent of the country's 3.5 million population - half a million people, according to the government waited long hours in the sun to hear him say Mass in the ruined centre of Beirut yesterday, and thousands more were turned away for lack of space.

"You have become the image of hope for all Lebanese," President Elias Rrawi told the Pope on his arrival at Beirut airport on Saturday.

The Pontiff noted that "many people died in vain" during the 1975-1990 civil war, which, he said, "remains present in all memories and has left many wounds in hearts. None the less, Lebanon must turn resolutely towards the future, freely determined by the choice of its inhabitants".

In all his public appearances the Pope reiterated the same themes: peace, reconciliation and building a new future. "You must prepare the Lebanon of tomorrow, to make of it a united people, with its cultural and spiritual diversity," he told the 20,000 youths on Saturday night, urging them "to take full consciousness of your responsibilities in national reconstruction".

Reuter adds: The Pope left Beirut last night to return to the Vatican after his 32 hour visit to Lebanon. He flew to Rome aboard a special flight of the Lebanese national carrier, Middle East Airlines, after saying farewell to Lebanese leaders at Beirut airport.

Asked why the Pope's calls for Lebanese sovereignty during his visit did not specifically mention Syria, which has 35,000 troops stationed in the country, and Israel, which occupies a southern border strip, his spokesman, Monsignor Joaquin Navarro Valls said: "It is not needed."

"In three speeches he [the Pope] has strongly and clearly expressed the need for a sovereign state," he said.