Pope blesses 300 newly-weds

Press, 8 February 1986, Page 10

Pope blesses 300 newly-weds

NZPA-Reuter Trichur Pope John Paul II blessed hundreds of newly-weds at an open-air ceremony yesterday when he arrived in Kerala state, the Catholic heartland of India. The Pope, nearing the end of a 10-day “Pilgrimage of Peace” to India, is taking a two-day swing through south-western coastal areas where St

Thomas the Apostle is said to have carried the Gospel in 52A.D. More than 300,000 people packed a palmfringed field to hear the Pope bless 152 couples who had been married just hours before by the local bishop. Crowds waving yellow-and-white papal flags stood up to 10 deep behind bamboo barricades

along the 2km long route of the Pope’s motorcade to the field. The Pope arrived by helicopter from Cochin, an ancient port 38km south. Standing beneath a towering mushroomshaped white canopy on a 10-metre-hlgh podium, the Pope lit a torch with a flame brought from Cranganoor, half-way between

Cochin and Trichur, where tradition says St Thomas first touched Indian soil. He then led prayers and made an impassioned plea for rich nations to share the benefits of progress with the developing world. The Pope also called for a new commitment to

marriage and family life as a way of ensuring social development. On the seventh day of his 20,000-km Indian tour the Pope again set a hectic pace. He arrived in the 1000-year-old port of Cochin — “the Queen of the Arabian Sea” — from another Catholic stronghold, the former Portuguese territory of Goa.