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The congress drew 10,000 foreign ecclesiastical and lay pilgrims to a Carnpo Eucanstico in a 60-acre pasture outside Bogota. On a "Day of Conversion," 20 Andean Indians—who left aside their usual breechcloths to don city clothing for the first time—were publicly baptized, received first Communion and were confirmed all on the same day. Later, showing his concern for the shortage of priests in Latin America, the Pope ordained 161 priests and deacons in a group ceremony. Four of the new deacons have wives, and thus became Latin America's first married clergy under a 1967 authorization by Paul reviving the ancient institution of the diaconate. In a touch of ecumenism, three Protestants, including a Bavarian Lutheran bishop, and a local Anglican priest took part in a Mass. The Lutheran preached the sermon, and the Anglican publicly criticized the lack of religious freedom in Colombia before the Catholic audience.
Heavy Guard. For a man of 70 in uncertain health, the 5,941-mile flight to Bogota was an ordeal, and the Pope's aides tried to surround him with every amenity. Paul's compartment in the specially outfitted Colombian jet that carried him on the 11-hr. 50-min. flight from Rome was equipped with commercial aviation's first airborne bathtub —a convenience that even President Johnson's Air Force One does not have.
The Pope was also heavily guarded. Not since feudal times, when several Popes were murdered and the papal food taster was a Vatican fixture, had there been such concern for a Pontiff's safety. As always on foreign trips, Paul was accompanied by his bodyguard, Colonel Spartaco Angelini, commander of the Pontifical Gendarmerie, the Vatican police force. Angelini carried a 7.65-mm. Beretta in a shoulder holster, and under his own standing orders was prepared to shoot to kill to defend the Pope. At least 1,000 white-gloved, white-helmeted Colombian military policemen patrolled the Campo Eucanstico with rifles and submachine guns.
Though in some places the crowds did not live up to expectations, the Pope was engulfed by a roar of emotion everywhere he went. For Paul, the acclaim was a tonic. After months of agonizing over his encyclical on birth control, then weeks of widespread and often bitter criticism, here was simple, uncomplicated, old-fashioned affection. The papal presence transformed Colombia's somber capital, insulated 8,355 ft. high on a plateau between two Andean ranges, into a scene of sheer, uninhibited joy. Shoulder to shoulder, an estimated 500,000 bogotanos lined the eight-mile route to town, straining for a glimpse of their spiritual leader, who rode in an open-topped Lincoln Continental, and waving white handkerchiefs in the South American flicker of greeting.
Pressed Flesh. The most dangerous crush occurred at the national cathedral, Paul's first stop after the airport. Some of the faithful had waited all night in the Plaza de Bolivar fronting on the cathedral. When Paul arrived, the surge of the mob was so forceful that women lost their shoes, 300 persons fainted or were pressed breathless, and even the Pope himself was jostled. Escorted into the cathedral by a phalanx of police, Paul was greeted by 5,000 priests, nuns, novices and seminary students who jammed every niche of the basilica, elbowing and shoving for a better look.