24649: Raber (Reply) re:24646 Pope's visit to Haiti

[sak-pase@bimini.ws]

PM Raber <raber88@zoominternet.net>

I wonder how these rummors get started?  The Pope did leave the airport.  I
don't think he would have visited if he were not allowed to leave the
airport.  This was a Pope of the people.  Duvaliers were concerned that the
Pope would see too much poverty and tried to restrict his driving route.  He
landed and celebrated mass at the Airport.  This is where he made his
comments about change.  He later was driven through "Grand Rue" and other
main Port-au-Prince streets (that Duvalier had conveniently cleaned out of
the Ti Machann stands).  He went up to Petion-Ville (specifically up Rue
Lamarre) and then to the papal Nuncio's residence in the hills atop
Petion-Ville where he spent some time with the Nuncio (Ambassador from the
Vatican to Haiti) and received flowers and a kiss from then Petion-Ville's
Mayor Max Penette's grand-daughter (whose mother Maryse was not too long ago
in the Aristide ministry of tourism).   The Nuncio's house used to be the
last accessible house on top of Morne Calvaire. I think government (I can't
remenber under which government)  thugs burned it down some years ago.   I
spent hours at the airport with a group of friends and we then shot up
Delmas to Rue Lamarre in Petion-Ville (while he was being driven through
Port-au-Prince) and we waved to him from the Petion-Ville sidewalks as he
drove by a few feet away.   Most of the route was set ahead of time and
hundreds of thousands saw the Pope slowly drive by smiling and waving.
Supposedly he had wanted to drive through Cite Simone (now cite Soleil) but
was not accommodated except for a drive by the entrance of the slum.   The
World has lost a modern prophet who refused to fit in anybody's box and who
was never afraid to publically express his convictions to even the most
ruthless dictators.  One must wonder how much more he must have said to
world leaders in private.  He was part of the "greatest generation" born
soon after WW1 and shaped by WWII..  He will be a hard act to follow.