Pope John Paul

HAVANA -- Pope John Paul II issued a stern denunciation of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba yesterday in a letter to the nation's youth, calling such sanctions "deplorable because they always hurt the most needy."The letter was released during a Mass dedicated to Cuba's youth celebrated in Camaguey, a city about 300 miles east of the capital. During his homily, which Pope John Paul read in slow, deliberate and sometimes slurred Spanish, he quoted the Epistle to the Romans in instructing the youth: "Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good."

FEW PEOPLE in the Archdiocese of Baltimore were surprised to see the name of Archbishop J. Francis Stafford on the list of 22 new cardinals announced by Pope John Paul II this week. As a native of Catonsville, graduate of local Catholic schools, former head of Associated Catholic Charities, auxiliary bishop and urban vicar for the archdiocese, Cardinal Stafford has a deep and lifelong association with this community.While archbishop of Denver, Cardinal Stafford played host to Pope John Paul II and some 400,000 other Catholics at World Youth Day in August 1993, a huge but peaceful gathering sometimes referred to as the "Catholic Woodstock."

IN SOME PART at least, the visit by Pope John Paul II to Baltimore reveals the esteem in which he holds Cardinal William H. Keeler. And more likely than not, at least in part, Cardinal Keeler's stature was merited by his advice and guidance as he aided the pope in the building of an astonishing bridge to the Jewish people.The U.S. Jewish community, together with the world Jewish community, offers heartfelt praise of John Paul II for the diligent efforts to reinforce the legacy of the Second Vatican Council.

The week that began with a TV deathwatch over a 41-year-old Florida woman drew to a close with a television vigil for Pope John Paul II. The story of what looked to be the pontiff's final hours quickly became a cable news event yesterday, with CNN, MSNBC and Fox News offering continuous coverage. From live pictures of windows at the Vatican residence and the gathering throng in St. Peter's Square, to health updates and reminiscences of Pope John Paul's life, cable news was in overdrive by midafternoon, when some stations erroneously reported that the pope had died.

A PAPAL visit is a curious phenomenon. The anticipation preceding the visit is as electric as the excitement before a World Series or a Final Four, yet the Mass at Camden Yards will follow a script that is centuries old.The schedule is rigid, the public appearances are limited and tickets are rationed, yet public officials are expecting a handsome economic impact from the pope's 10-hour stay in Baltimore.If those things seem contradictory, consider the message Pope John Paul II has consistently espoused since taking office 17 years ago this month.

This is the Sunday that Pope John Paul II was to have spent in Maryland. And in downtown Baltimore yesterday, the papal visit that didn't happen occasioned forceful expressions by Roman Catholics of sharply opposing views of their church.Health considerations forced Pope John Paul to cancel his trip. But even without his presence, his uncompromising theological leadership was the point of divergence between Catholic liberals and conservatives meeting here separately.At an all-day convocation at the Omni Inner Harbor Hotel, a succession of Catholic lay leaders with national reputations agreed with Thomas P. Melady, the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican from 1989 to 1993, who affirmed that "our teachings are set forth by those authorized by Catholic tradition to teach" -- the pope and bishops.

THE PILGRIMAGE of Pope John Paul II to the Holy Land has as its priority his personal spiritual journey, as he says. But his presence also puts welcome pressure on parties to a possible peace settlement to get on with it. In singling out the Palestinians in wretched camps of the West Bank as sufferers, he adds urgency to their need for statehood, while remaining vague about who keeps them in these conditions. Israel as an occupying power, they would say. But also Arab rulers who kept them without citizenship rights as political fodder, they may suspect.

IN DOLLAR terms, tourism officials are expecting a statewide economic impact of some $19.1 million in hotel, restaurant and other revenues connected to the one-day visit of Pope John Paul II to Baltimore next Sunday. There are, of course, no tangible numbers to place on the spiritual benefits, but they will be substantial. A papal visit -- particularly one to a city as important to American Catholicism as Baltimore has been -- cannot help but uplift the entire community.Cardinal William H. Keeler has suggested that Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays as part of their spiritual preparation for the visit.

On June 29, 1999, Pope John Paul II published a letter to those preparing to celebrate the Great Jubilee of 2000, explaining why he intended to make a yearlong pilgrimage to the great sites of biblical history. Those sites are typically associated these days with the tangled politics of the Middle East. In his letter, however, Pope John Paul insisted that his "would be an exclusively religious pilgrimage in its nature and purposes," and added that he "would be saddened if anyone were to attach other meanings to this plan of mine."

He was Pope John Paul II's right-hand man, a sort of vice president to the pontiff who led the church for a quarter-century. So the election yesterday of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the new pope is unlikely to radically alter the church's teachings, its influence in the United States or its role for American Catholics. "Do not expect any major surprises," said the Rev. John Langan, a professor of Catholic social thought at Georgetown University. "There might only be some differences in nuance."