ROMAN CATHOLICS
In imitation of Columbus' first act when he landed in the New World, the frail figure in the scarlet cloak fell to his knees at the foot of the airplane ramp and kissed the concrete. With that dramatic gesture, Paul VI last week became the first Pope to set foot in South America, the only predominantly Roman Catholic continent. The Pope's journey was not an entirely joyous one. Though he received a warm and at times tumultuous welcome, the cause of his trip was a crisis. His central purpose was to try to prevent a disastrous worsening of the division in the Latin American church—a schism between entrenched reactionaries and radical clerics advocating social and political revolution.
By his trip to Latin America, cabled TIME Correspondent John Shaw, who traveled with the Pope, Paul is trying to devise for the continent's clergy and faithful "a middle way to social progress with justice." He thus hopes to satisfy the radicals without totally alienating the large number of reactionaries, who are strongly allied with the church. "Seeking evolution, fearing revolution, warning against violence but agreeing that reform is needed urgently, the Vatican is seeking to influence Latin American governments, awaken the conscience of the rich, involve the wealthy nations, and arouse its Latin hierarchy. But all without the church itself risking the loss of its privileges."
Oddly Anachronistic. Thus, in his three-day visit, the Pope tried to identify Catholicism more effectively with reform and with various efforts to ease the social ills of a poverty-ridden continent. Whatever his success, the Pope was clearly moved by the opportunity. Speaking in accented but accurate Spanish to a crowd of peasants outside Bogota, he cried: "Greetings, greetings to you, campesinos of Colombia. And greetings to the workers of the land in Latin America. Greetings, greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Our Savior. We confide to you that this meeting with you is one of of the dearest and most meaningful moments of this journey of ours. It is one of the dearest and most meaningful moments of our apostolic and pontifical ministry."*
Still, the occasion for the Pope's visit —the 39th International Eucharistic Congress—was oddly anachronistic in a day when a large and militant part of the Roman Catholic Church is turning away from pomp and tradition. The Eucharistic Congress, conceived in the late 19th century by a devout French grande dame, Marie Marthe Tamisier, is a liturgical spectacular that reaffirms the otherworldly glories of the faith. The event particularly venerates the Eucharist, the ritual in which, according to traditional Catholic doctrine, bread and wine are transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ. With its emphasis on ceremony and doctrine, the congress could have little bearing on the problems of poverty and social callousness that plague Latin America. Pope Paul selected Colombia, Latin America's most unshakably Catholic country, as the site for this year's event, frankly calling the honor "a prize for Colombia's illustrious services to the Catholic cause."