CROATIA: POPE JOHN PAUL 11 GREETED BY HUGE CROWDS AS HE PRESIDES OVER PRAYER SERVICE IN ZADAR.

Record ID: 647139

  • Title: CROATIA: POPE JOHN PAUL 11 GREETED BY HUGE CROWDS AS HE PRESIDES OVER PRAYER SERVICE IN ZADAR.
  • Date: 9th June 2003
  • Summary: (W5) ZADAR, CROATIA (JUNE 9, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. TRAVEL: BOATS IN HARBOUR. (2 SHOTS) 0.16 2. WS: PEOPLE ON DOCK. (2 SHOTS) 0.27 3. MV/TRACK: MAN CARRYING CROSS AND JESUS. 0.31 4. MV: WOMEN STANDING UNDER PICTURE SHOWING POPE JOHN PAUL. 0.36 5. WS: POPE JOHN PAUL ARRIVING IN POPEMOBILE. 0.42 6. TRACK: POPE JOHN PAUL IN POPEMOBILE DRIVES THROUGH WAVING CROWDS. 0.49 7. MV/MLV: POPE JOHN PAUL WAVING. (2 SHOTS) 1.00 8. VARIOUS: CROWD CHEERING AND WAVING. (3 SHOTS) 1.16 9. MV: POPE BEING WHEELED ON STAGE AND WAVING. 1.31 10. MV: CHEERING FLAG WAVING CROWDS. 1.36 11. MV: POPE SITTIONG IN CHAIR ON STAGE AND WAVING. 1.42 12. HAS/WS: CROWDS LOOKING TOWARDS STAGE AND APPLAUDING. 1.46 13. SCU: POPE IN CHAIR ON STAGE. 1.52 14. WS: POPE ON STAGE. 1.58 15. MV: CROWDS WAVING FLAGS AND CHEERING. 2.04 16. MV: SOUNDBITE (Croatian) POPE JOHN PAUL ON STAGE, SAYING: "Special thanks to you, beloved Croatian people, who greeted me with open arms and hearts." 2.19 17. WS/HAS: PEOPLE CHEERING. WITH POPE ON STAGE IN FOREGROUND. 2.27 18. HAS/PAN: CHERING, FLAG WAVING CROWDS. 2.39 19. HAS/MV: POPE IN HIS SPECIAL CHAIR ON STAGE WAVING TO CROWD. 2.52 20. HAS/WS: PEOPLE CHEERING. 2.57 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ZADAR, CROATIA
  • Country: Croatia
  • Reuters ID: LVA4D8DA9V0C8U6DHUX6EVWR6GT2
  • Story Text: Croatia has given a fatigued Pope John Paul a roaring
    send-off as he wrapped up a trip to Croatia that tested the
    stamina of the 83-year old Roman Catholic leader and his plans
    for more travels.



    In the most colourful event of Pope John Paul's
    trip, tens of thousands of people packed the old port area of
    the city of Zadar on Monday (June 9), jamming bridges and
    causeways to get a glimpse as he presided at a prayer service.

    Thousands waved flags, shouted the pope's name and chanted
    'We belong to the pope, the pope is ours.'
    A white apartment block was adorned with big yellow
    banners to create a large replica of the Vatican flag.

    "Special thanks to you, beloved Croatian people, who
    greeted me with open arms and hearts," the pope, seated on
    a stage under an awning shaped like a ships sail, told the
    cheering crowd.

    Many Croats, 90 percent of whom describe themselves as
    Catholic, feel proud the pope chose to visit their country
    for the third time on his 100th overseas trip. As Slav
    Catholics, they feel a particular affinity with the Polish
    pontiff.

    Despite the fatigue of the last day, the pope, who suffers
    from Parkinson's disease, arthritis and hip problems, held up
    remarkably well overall during the trip.

    During his visit, the Pope also spoke in favour of
    Croatia's bid to join the European Union (EU). The former
    Yugoslav republic, which looks set to be the only European
    Catholic country outside the EU after the bloc expands next
    year, hopes to join in 2007.

    Each day of the pope's visit was marked by high
    temperatures and humidity. Conditions were so bad on Saturday
    (June 7) in the eastern city of Osijek that two people in the
    crowd of more than 200,000 died of heart problems brought on
    by the heat.

    The trip was the pope's longest since last summer when he
    made an 11-day trip to Canada, Guatemala and Mexico.

    He will return to the road on June 22 when he makes a day
    trip to Bosnia and will visit Slovakia in September. Vatican
    officials cast doubt on a hoped-for trip to Mongolia and
    Russia this August.

    Throughout the Croatia trip, which took him to five cities
    in as many days, he preached a message of reconciliation among
    various ethnic groups and religions in the Balkans, which were
    torn apart by wars and broke Yugoslavia apart in the 1990s.




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