
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 23, 1990                   TAG: 9004230023
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: VELEHRAD, CZECHOSLOVAKIA                                LENGTH: Short

POPE PLANS HISTORIC SYNOD FOR NON-COMMUNIST EUROPE

Sounding a call for continental unity, Pope John Paul II on Sunday summoned an unprecedented all-European Congress of Catholic Bishops to chart common action made possible by the collapse of communism.

"Never in the history of the Church has there been such a continental meeting. To my mind the agenda will be huge," said papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro.

A spokesman also disclosed that the Roman Catholic leader would visit Cuba in December.

The public papal summons for a synod of bishops from two dozen European countries came after a Mass here before an onion-domed 17th century basilica that is a Czechoslovakian national landmark.

For the second day, John Paul drew gigantic crowds for outdoor Masses in a country where a peaceful revolution last winter ended four decades of Communist rule and with it the repression of religion. The Vatican says at least half of Czechoslovakia's 15 million people are Catholic.

Even after 40 muzzled years, everybody in the giant crowd, old and young alike, knew the words to ancient and bittersweet hymns that echoed through the rain-soaked countryside Sunday in John Paul's wake.

by CNB