Pope

ARLINGTON, Va. - They were an unlikely political "trinity" - Ronald Reagan, the president of the United States who came from the Disciples of Christ Church; Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister whose background was working-class Methodist; and Karol Wojtyla, the Roman Catholic priest from Krakow, Poland. Together, they did something no one thought possible: They contributed to the collapse of communism, a political pestilence of the 20th century. While the contributions of Mr. Reagan and Mrs. Thatcher to the fall of communism are well known, communism's trip to the "ash heap of history," as Mr. Reagan put it, might not have come had it not been for Pope John Paul II. Even former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev acknowledged as much when he told Italy's La Stampa newspaper in 1992: "What has happened in Eastern Europe in recent years would not have been possible without the presence of this pope."

VATICAN CITY -- Easter came to the Vatican, bringing pilgrims' awe and echoes of the "atrocious drama" of war.Under gray skies, tens of thousands shared St. Peter's Square with Pope John Paul II yesterday, colorful banks of flowers and helmeted Swiss Guards in a replay of Europe's most hallowed rite of spring.Pope John Paul, completing his 15th year at the head of the Roman Catholic Church, was of two moods as he celebrated Easter Mass."Together with the whole church, I announce a great joy: 'The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon,' " the pontiff said, quoting from the Gospel of Luke.

ROME - The health of Pope John Paul II, who has not been seen in public for four days, continues to improve, the Vatican said yesterday. But the ailing pontiff might miss ceremonies leading up to Easter, the most important holiday on the Christian calendar. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls declined to say when the pope would be released from the hospital, where a week ago he underwent an emergency operation to insert a breathing tube in his neck. Navarro-Valls, speaking to reporters after issuing an update on the pontiff's condition, said it was also unclear what role Pope John Paul would play in the hectic week of Masses and services that begin Palm Sunday, March 20, and culminate in Easter the next Sunday.

VIENNA -- Pope Benedict XVI stood silently yesterday before a large stone monument to Austrian Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust, offering a gesture of what he described as "sadness and repentance." The visit was a significant start to a three-day pilgrimage to Austria to lend succor to a Catholic Church still troubled by a series of sexual abuse scandals, plummeting membership and sapped influence. The visit to Austria will allow the pope to emphasize some of his favorite themes, including what he sees as the essential Christian identity of Europe, particularly as it is undermined by secularism and fast-growing Muslim immigration.

WHEN John F. Kennedy ran for president way back in 1960, one of the biggest obstacles he faced was his religion: He was a Roman Catholic, and no Catholic had ever been elected president of the United States.At one point during his campaign for the Democratic nomination, Kennedy decided that he needed to address the religious issue, and he did so by pledging that if elected he would owe his allegiance to the Constitution and the American people, not to the Catholic Church and the pope.The voters took Kennedy at his word, and he went on to win the White House in a close election over Richard Nixon.

VATICAN CITY -- What's wrong with the pope?The health of Pope John Paul II has become a consuming behind-the-scenes question here. Despite official denials that the pope is ill, an end-of-papacy gloom hangs over the Vatican. Rumors abound.Looking frail, ever more stooped and limping heavily at 74, Pope John Paul is a far cry from the vigorous pontiff who visited Denver and hiked in the Rockies a year ago. Vatican officials and U.S. planners are discussing ways to curtail his public appearances on a planned trip next month to the United Nations and to nearby Northeastern cities, church sources say.Senior church officials, diplomats and Vatican insiders paint a portrait of a pope troubled by a slow-healing right leg and by difficulty in adjusting mentally to his diminished physical capacity.

Baltimore is "high on the list" of possible stops for Pope John Paul II when he visits this country in October to address the United Nations, U.S. government officials said yesterday.A U.N. spokesman in New York confirmed that the pope will address the General Assembly in the latter part of October, reviving speculation in Baltimore that he would make a brief "pastoral visit" here before returning to Rome.The government officials in Washington, who asked not to be identified, said the Baltimore visit is under serious consideration but that the pope's itinerary is not yet certain.

WASHINGTON -- A drive to bring Pope John Paul II to Washington so he could make the first papal appearance before a joint session of Congress ran out of gas last month.The reason: lawmakers learned that the only time the pontiff might have been able to come was on a congressional day off.Two senators and 51 House members signed letters urging House Speaker Newt Gingrich to invite the pope to address Congress when he comes to the United States in October to visit Baltimore, New York and Newark.

Rome -- IT'S NO secret in this city that the pope is ill.How ill he is and what is the nature of his illness is debated everywhere. One rumor is as good as another, and there's no point in paying any attention to most of them.Clearly, however, the church is in a "fin du regime" situation, but no one is sure how long that could last.It's a grisly business, this speculation on the pope's health, made no less grisly by the fact that no one ever believes the Vatican is telling the truth about any pope's health.

Sister Katherine Louise Nueslein beamed yesterday. "We hear so much bad news -- this is the good news," she said.The nun had been listening at the Basilica of the Assumption as some of her teen-age charges from Southwest Baltimore spoke excitedly about praying with Pope John Paul II in Denver a year ago, and they offered their predictions of what his visit here in October will accomplish."