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"Return to Rome" in his greeting either to the separated "Christian brothers" or to those of other faiths. In a speech of welcome, Philip Klutznick, of the Jewish Center for the U.N., reminded the Pope of Israel's proud and ancient word for peace; Paul quietly responded: "Shalom."
The climax of Paul's visit was yet to come. That night he celebrated Mass before more than 90,000 people in Yankee Stadium—an occasion that turned the old arena, one Catholic noted, into "the home of Mantle, Maris and Montini." Instead of a solemn pontifical Mass, Paul chose to recite a simple Low Mass, to which the congregation responded rousingly in English. In keeping with the liturgical reforms of the Vatican Council, lessons were read by laymen, and twelve children—the only ones to receive Communion from the Pope that day—brought the bread and wine to the altar to be consecrated.
Speaking his sermon in thickly accented English, the Pope dwelt on Christ's seventh beatitude, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Said Paul: "If we truly wish to be Christians, we must love peace. We must conform our minds to the thought of peace."
"Tutti Buoni." To great, deafening, farewell cheers, the papal motorcade then whisked to the World's Fair for a brief tour of the Vatican pavilion. There, visibly exhausted, the Pope stared blankly for a while at Michelangelo's Pietd in its unaccustomed setting,* gave his blessing to the modest crowd that braved the night air for a final glimpse of the Pontiff. Then he was hurried back to Kennedy Airport for the TWA flight home—14 hours after his arrival in New York.
"What impressed you particularly?" a reporter asked Paul as they neared Rome. Answered the Pope, smiling: "Tutti cari, tutti buoni [All dear, all good]." The next day, following his return, he told the bishops at the Vatican Council that "the Catholic Church has assumed a greater obligation to serve the cause of peace because of the fact that, through our voice, she has solemnly pleaded its cause."
Instrument of the Godless. There was, of course, a measure of redundancy in the Pope's statement; even before Paul's address, no one had seriously doubted that he and his church were committed to world peace. But it was an open question whether the speech—no matter how sincere its message and dramatic the circumstance—would do much to further his lofty goals. Certainly it would bolster the morale of the professional diplomats who hope to see the U.N. roused from its present state of impotence. Certainly the Pope's unqualified endorsement of the organization would swing to it a degree of popular support, particularly from the Catholics who have long suspected it to be an instrument of the godless.