Spain: Timely Trip

Terror strikes as the Pope visits

Even for a country as staunchly Catholic as Spain, the welcome for Pope John Paul II last week was astonishing in its emotional intensity. Beyond the outpouring of affection for the man himself, it was as if Spaniards saw this first visit to their country ever by a sitting Pontiff as a symbol of reconciliation for a young democracy racked by leftist terrorism on the one hand and threatened on the other by disgruntled right-wingers anxious to return to the dictatorial days of Francisco Franco. Only three days before the Pope's white Alitalia 727 touched down at Madrid's Barajas Airport, Spanish voters had given Socialist Felipe González Márquez, 40, a landslide victory in national elections. Arriving during a tense period of political transition, the Pope told King Juan Carlos, González and the nation's military leaders, "I would like to greet and pay my respects to the legitimate representatives of the Spanish people."

By the pointed use of "legitimate," the Pope was indirectly expressing his disapproval of earlier right-wing attempts to overthrow the government. The papal defense of democracy proved sadly timely. Two days later, terrorists struck in Madrid in what outgoing Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo called "a provocation, not only against the armed forces but against the Spanish people who voted massively for harmony." Two men mounted on motorbikes used submachine guns to riddle the official car of Major General Victor Lago Román, 63, who, after the dismissal of right-wing officers last year, was named commander of the Brunete armored division that guards Madrid. The general was killed instantly and his driver gravely wounded. The attackers escaped, but credit for the assassination was claimed by members of the military branch of the Basque separatist organization ETA, which is blamed for 37 political murders this year.

Informed of the killing, John Paul II telephoned his condolences to King Juan Carlos. He later told an audience in Toledo that "violence is not the way to the solution of problems and is always anti-Christian." González attended a religious service at the military headquarters where General Lago's body was lying in state. He warned that the Socialist government, which will be formed on Dec. 9, will not be provoked. Said he: "We shall use all means at our disposal in the constitution to eradicate terrorism."

Shortly after his warm handshake with González at the royal palace (González, a nonpracticing Catholic, bowed but did not kiss the Pope's ring), John Paul II spoke at a Mass in Madrid's Plaza de Lima before more than a million cheering spectators, one of the largest crowds he has drawn in any of his 16 trips abroad. Standing beneath a 30-ft.-high cross on a podium draped in white and yellow papal bunting, the Pontiff put forward in exceptionally strong terms his conservative position on marriage and the family. The Socialists have proposed legalizing abortion in cases where the mother's life is endangered or the fetus appears abnormal. Said John Paul II: "The murder of an innocent never can be legitimized." Turning to the controversy over state support for church schools, the Pope strongly defended the right of Catholic parents to control the education of their children.