John Paul II to See Much of L.A. in ‘Popemobile’

Los Angeles Archbishop Roger M. Mahony on Wednesday released details of Pope John Paul II’s two-day visit to Southern California next September--the longest stopover on his eight-day U.S. tour--which will include a 12-mile ride in a bulletproof-glass “popemobile” through four ethnic neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

Mahony confirmed the Pope’s visit to Los Angeles--his first to California--on Sept. 15 and 16. The pontiff will spend both nights in the rectory of St. Vibiana’s Cathedral on the edge of Skid Row.

The U.S. visit, the Pope’s second to the continental United States, will begin Sept. 10 in Miami and end in San Francisco on Sept. 18.

After arriving at Los Angeles International Airport, the Pope will transfer to a white “popemobile,” a vehicle with a protective glass platform mounted on a truck chassis, at the intersection of La Brea Avenue and the Santa Monica Freeway. From there, Mahony said, the papal motorcade will wind through “Anglo, black, Korean and Latino communities and up Broadway” before arriving at the cathedral for a prayer service.

“He’s going to see everything,” Mahony said at a press conference. “It’s one of the most exciting routes he will have been on during the entire trip.” In addition to Miami and San Francisco, the Pope will visit Columbia, S.C., New Orleans, San Antonio, Phoenix, and Monterey, Calif.

Although final details of the schedule will not be approved until next summer, Mahony said a large outdoor Mass is planned for either the Rose Bowl in Pasadena or the Los Angeles Coliseum on the night of Sept. 15.

If the Mass is in the Rose Bowl, a preliminary plan calls for a crowd of 104,000 in the stands and 2,500 on the field.

Opposition Overcome

Bill Thompson, a Pasadena city director (the equivalent of a councilman), said Wednesday that city officials, who at first opposed the Pope’s use of the Rose Bowl for fear the crowds would trample the turf--spoiling it for UCLA’s home football games--were now satisfied that “measures can be taken to protect the playing field.”

“There have been discussions with UCLA,” Thompson said. “A solution has been found . . . like (constructing) a platform on the field itself” over the grass.

The US Festival rock concert site 65 miles east of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County, considered as an alternate site for a Mass that could accommodate up to 400,000 people, has now been ruled out, Mahony said, because of the lack of seating, restrooms and shade.

Events Planned

The Pope’s Los Angeles visit will include a Sept. 16 service at Dodger Stadium honoring immigrants and a major address to about 300 national executives in the radio, television, recording and print industries. He also will meet with the 315 U.S. Roman Catholic bishops during a private four-hour session at Our Lady Queen of Angeles Seminary in San Fernando.

John Paul II will visit the Carmel Mission, the burial place of Father Junipero Serra, founder of the California mission chain and a candidate for Catholic sainthood, Mahony said. But Mahony added that it is still not certain whether the Pope will declare Serra “blessed” in a ceremony that would mark the second step in the friar’s canonization.