'Thank you, Canada'

Tears of joy greet Pope as he arrives in Toronto to launch youth festival

By GRAEME SMITH, The Globe and Mail
Wednesday, July 24, 2002

Stooped with disease and old age, the pontiff surprised his handlers by giving them his cane and skullcap, known as a zucchetto.

John Paul II hiked up his robe as it rippled in the summer wind and lowered himself -- slowly, his face contorted with exertion -- down each step to the tarmac.

The gesture surprised the crowd of dignitaries and hand-picked young worshippers meeting him at Pearson airport.

They had been warned the 82-year-old Pope would disembark from the MD-11 jet on a scissor lift, that he was partly paralyzed, and that he might be able to read only the first few lines of his speech.

Although his voice was soft and slurred, he read all 450 words.

The pontiff thanked the country and the city for playing host to thousands of young people from all over the world gathered for the World Youth Day events.

"Thank you, Toronto; thank you, Canada, for welcoming them with open arms!"

The waiting crowds were equally effusive.

"He seemed so alive when I looked into his eyes," said schoolteacher Roxanne Dillon, 34, who burst into tears after she kissed the Pope's hand. "He represents such passion because he's suffering so much and yet he continues."

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien expressed a similar sentiment: "We have in your Holiness a truly inspiring example of personal commitment," he said.

John Paul praised Canada, speaking first in English, then in French.

"Canadians are heirs to an extraordinarily rich humanism, enriched even more by the blend of many different cultural elements," he said.

The Pope's appearance excited the crowds of faithful who packed Exhibition Place to watch his arrival on a video screen. They were among about 200,000 people who have signed up for World Youth Day, a gathering of young Roman Catholics that began last night with a welcoming mass.

The rambunctious young crowd arrived in large groups and jostled for space before the altar. They included Catholics from East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America and many Americans.

"It's great to meet these people from around the world," said Brother Joseph, a young monk from Boston who wore a denim cassock.

The event, which ends with a papal mass on Sunday, has clogged downtown Toronto with young people from around the world and shut many roads.

Organizers have complained that they had hoped for 750,000 registrants, but doubts about the Pope's health and other problems kept the numbers lower than they have been for the seven previous World Youth Days.
If the Pope's feisty performance, shown live on television, draws enough last-minute sign-ups, the church could avoid losing money on the $80-million event.

"The story is that [the Pope] is continuing his mission amidst that suffering, and the young people will respond to his courage and integrity," papal biographer George Weigel said in an e-mail.

Yesterday's welcoming ceremony inside an aircraft hangar featured dignitaries such as the Prime Minister, Ontario Premier Ernie Eves and Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman. A military band played. Organizers brought bunches of sunflowers, philodendron leaves, ginger, roses, snowball hydrangea and viburnum through the x-ray machines at the security checkpoints to decorate the red-carpeted stage.

Several of the 90 young people who filed past the Pope's ornate, white-and-gold chair wept. He blessed them, embraced them and let them kiss his hand.

"It was really cool," 20-year-old Shauntel McCall of Regina said. "He's just so cute."

Anthony Ramuscak, 16, rolled up to the Pope in the motorized wheelchair he has used since he suffered a stroke. The pontiff blessed him.

"I know now I will go to heaven," Mr. Ramuscak said, labouring with his words. "I always wanted to meet him. I am very religious and he is our Holy Father and I love him."

Georgia Rae Giddings, 10, got caught in a media frenzy after the Pope embraced her and she burst into tears. For the next hour, she recalled the moment over and over on live television from the centre of crowds of journalists. "When I stood in front of the Pope, I just got dizzier and dizzier," she said.

All the activity took a toll on the Pope. His lips occasionally gaped open and he seemed to be mouthing silent words. He often rubbed his face with his hand, or rested his forehead heavily in his palm.

Within an hour, he had climbed back onto the wheeled cart with brass-coloured railings on three sides and was rolled back to the tarmac.

The Pope boarded a rented Sikorsky S-76 helicopter selected for the flight to his retreat on Lakes Simcoe's Strawberry Island because it's more comfortable than military copters.

"It's like a limousine in there," flight engineer Jim Sevenson said.

Three Griffon helicopters flew alongside the Pope's craft. It's a common tactic to confuse terrorists, said Alan Bell, president of Globe Risk Holdings security consultancy in Toronto. Mr. Bell provided security for the Pope's tour of Central America in 1983, when he served with the British SAS. He said it's common for important figures to travel in a cluster of helicopters to reduce the chances of being shot down. "It's so that the bad guys on the ground don't know where to aim," Mr. Bell said.

I am deeply grateful for your words of welcome, Mr. Prime Minister, and feel greatly honoured by the presence here of the Premier of Ontario, the mayor of the great city of Toronto, and other distinguished representatives of government and civil society. To all I say a resounding thank-you for welcoming the idea of holding the World Youth Day in Canada and for all that has been done to make it a reality.

Dear people of Canada, I have vivid memories of my first apostolic visit in 1984, and of my brief visit in 1987 to the First Nations in the land of Denendeh. This time I must be content to stay only in Toronto. From here I greet all Canadians. You are in my thankful prayers to God, who has so abundantly blessed your vast and beautiful country.

Young people from all parts of the world are gathering for the World Youth Day. With their gifts of intelligence and heart they represent the future of the world. But they also bear the marks of a humanity that too often does not know peace, or justice.

Too many lives begin and end without joy, without hope. That is one of the principal reasons for the World Youth Day. Young people are coming together to commit themselves, in the strength of their faith in Jesus Christ, to the great cause of peace and human solidarity.

Thank-you, Toronto; thank-you, Canada, for welcoming them with open arms!

In the French version of your national anthem, O Canada, you sing: Car ton bras sait porter l'épée, il sait porter la croix." Canadians are heirs to an extraordinary rich humanism, enriched even more by the blend of many different cultural elements. But the core of your heritage is the spiritual and transcendent vision of life based on Christian revelations, which gave vital impetus to your development as a free, democratic and caring society, recognized throughout the world as a champion of human rights and human dignity.

In a world of great social and ethical strains, and confusion about the very purpose of life, Canadians have an incomparable treasure to contribute. They must therefore preserve what is deep, what is good, what is valuable in their own heritage. I pray that the World Youth Day will offer all Canadians an opportunity to remember the values that are essential to good living and to human happiness.

Mr. Prime Minister, dear friends: may the motto of the World Youth Day echo throughout the land, reminding all Christians to be "salt of the earth and light of the world."

God bless you all. God bless Canada.