Chile Bearer of Unwelcome Tidings

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John Paul declined to celebrate a private Mass hoped for by the Pinochets, but prayed with them briefly in the palace chapel, an event that was broadcast on the government-owned television channel. Pinochet is eager to show he is not a pariah and hopes the goodwill extended to John Paul by ordinary Chileans will rub off on him. Chile's bishops had initially invited the Pope to come and celebrate the peaceful resolution of a territorial dispute between Chile and Argentina that nearly led to war before a Vatican- brokered peace agreement was signed in 1984. John Paul, who is no stranger to powerful military rulers -- from former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos to Poland's Wojciech Jaruzelski and Haiti's former President-for-Life Jean- Claude ("Baby Doc") Duvalier -- was not about to allow Pinochet to use the papal visit for his own purposes.

After the meeting at La Bandera, the Pope visited Santiago's archdiocesan headquarters, where he met behind closed doors with church bishops and repeated his hope for free elections "in the not too distant future." At present the government has scheduled a plebiscite for 1989 to approve a presidential candidate chosen by the military. Those seeking a clue to the Pope's strategy found it during his meeting with the bishops. In a quiet dig at Pinochet's rule, he told them that "every nation has the right of self- determination" but noted that "it is also necessary that respect for human rights is assured." That restraint contrasted with his tough talk aboard the papal jet en route to Uruguay but typified the Pope's comments in Chile. The Polish-born Pontiff is keenly aware that authoritarian and dictatorial governments are not easily budged.

At week's end John Paul celebrated a Mass before 600,000 people in Santiago's Parque O'Higgins. While his previous appearances had been mostly peaceful, this one was marked by perhaps the ugliest violence the Pope has witnessed during all his foreign travels. As protesters unfurled anti-Pinochet banners, threw stones and set fires not far from the papal platform, police opened up with tear gas and water cannons. Some heard gunshots ring out. At least 161 people were injured. The Pontiff continued to speak but at times held his head in sorrow, and later declared, "Love is stronger than hate." After leaving Santiago, John Paul visited six other Chilean cities before departing for Argentina, where church and state are at odds over government efforts to legalize divorce and rein in trade unions.

Throughout, the Pope's emphasis on reconciliation between Chile's disaffected masses and their rulers came through clearly. It was certain that when John Paul departed Chile, he would leave behind a country subtly different from the one he arrived in only days before. As a member of the Vatican entourage explained, "The Pope's visits are like putting fuel in a nuclear reactor. Things happen."

FOOTNOTE: *The other: General Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay.