NEWS STORY: Pope Colors Labor Celebration With Global Debt Relief

c. 2000 Religion News Service ROME _ Pre-empting traditional May Day labor rallies, Pope John Paul II on Monday (May 1) dedicated a Jubilee mega-Mass and rock concert to the causes of workers’ rights and cancellation of Third World debt. “Globalization is a reality present today in every area of human life, but it is […]

c. 2000 Religion News Service

ROME _ Pre-empting traditional May Day labor rallies, Pope John Paul II on Monday (May 1) dedicated a Jubilee mega-Mass and rock concert to the causes of workers’ rights and cancellation of Third World debt.

“Globalization is a reality present today in every area of human life, but it is a reality which must be managed wisely,” the Roman Catholic pontiff said. “Solidarity too must become globalized.”


John Paul, who spent four years working in a stone quarry and chemical plant during the Nazi occupation of Poland in World War II, chose the May 1 holiday for the first major event of the Jubilee Holy Year to be held outside the Vatican.

Well over 100,000 people attended the outdoor Mass on the 8,000-acre Third University campus in Rome. They included Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, Bank of Italy President Antonio Fazio, Juan Somavia, director general of the UN International Labor Organization (ILO), and groups of workers from 47 countries.

The pope departed by helicopter after the mass and a brief concert of mainly classical music, leaving stagehands to turn the altar into the platform for a 12-hour rock concert featuring the Eurythmics, Alannis Morisette, who played God in the film “Dogma,” and Lou Reed, famed for the 1972 hit “Walk on the Wild Side.”

The “Concert for a Debt-Free World” was to climax at midnight with songs from “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Organizers prepared for a crowd of up to 600,000, the number of people who attended last year’s May Day rock concert sponsored by Italy’s labor unions.

Vatican officials said they were aware that Reed, formerly of the Velvet Underground, once claimed that he used LSD, heroin and marijuana to keep his equilibrium. They said they had been assured Reed has changed his ways.

John Paul, who will mark his 80th birthday May 18 and suffers from a neurological ailment believed to be Parkinson’s Disease, was celebrating his second long, public mass in two days and appeared tired at times.

On Sunday (April 30), the pope conferred sainthood on the Blessed Maria Faustina Kowalska, a 20th century Polish nun known as the “apostle of the divine mercy,” in a mass in St. Peter’s Square attended by some 150,000 pilgrims from Eastern Europe, Argentina, the Philippines and throughout Italy.


He announced after the Mass that in honor of St. Maria Faustina, the Sunday after Easter will become the Sunday of the Divine Mercy on the church calendar.

The pontiff concelebrated the May Day Mass with 600 priests, 70 of them cardinals, archbishops and bishops. During the offertory he was presented with funds collected by Italian bishops to help relieve the debt of Zambia and Guinea, a bonsai tree symbolizing concern for the environment, a prayer rug, a drawing of Jesus, a safety helmet standing for work safety and a computer sent by U.S. workers.

In his homily, and again in his reply to a brief address by the ILO director general, the pope stressed that the dignity of the worker is more important than the value of what he or she produces. He strongly endorsed Somavia’s call for establishment of “a global coalition for decent work.”

“Today on this path of civilization, thanks to new technologies and global computerized communications, fresh possibilities of progress are emerging,” John Paul said. “However, there is no shortage of new problems, which combine with already existing ones and give rise to legitimate preoccupation.”

The pope cited the problems of “unemployment, exploitation of minors and low wages,” which he said were worsening in some parts of the world.

“Workers, employers, collaborators, financiers, tradespeople, join your arms, your minds, your hearts to contribute to the building of a society which respects man and his work,” the pope said.


“Man is more valuable for what he is than for what he has,” the pontiff said. “Whatever is done for the sake of greater justice, wider fraternity and a more human ordering of social relationships counts for more than any progress in the technical field.”

John Paul also is a long-time supporter of efforts to cancel the debt of the world’s poorest countries and met last Sept. 23 with U2 lead singer Bono and other entertainers to help them promote the Jubilee 2000 “Drop the Debt” campaign.

Appearing to “the rich and developed nations, but also to people of great wealth and to those who are in a position to foster solidarity among peoples,” the pontiff said, “To reduce or indeed to remit this debt; here is a Jubilee gesture which would be so desirable.”

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John Paul listened attentively, his eyes sometimes closed and his head resting on his hand, as the Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome played works by Brahms and Rossini, and tenor Andrea Bocelli sang Shubert’s “Ave Maria” and sacred music by Franck, Rossini and Handel. John Paul warmly applauded the blind singer, who performed despite his father’s death during the night.

The brief concert ended with the Israeli singer Noa leading Khaled of Algeria and Italian stars in singing “Life is Beautiful” from Roberto Benigni’s Academy Award-winning film about the Holocaust. Noa noted that during May 1 and 2 Israel is commemorating the death of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.

In what may be a first for an artist performing for a pope, the long-haired singer wore a tight-fitting white top and skirt that bared her midriff and belly button. The pope kept his head averted as she sang, and she wrapped a shawl around her before lining up with the other singers and musicians to shake his hand.


KRE END POLK

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