POPE EXHORTS CROWDS TO BUILD BETTER AMERICA.

Byline: Steve Kloehn Chicago Tribune 

With bold words and grand aspirations, Pope John Paul II on Saturday implored the Catholics of the Americas to put their faith into action, both to address the shortcomings of the church and to battle the social evils of the Western Hemisphere.

In the triumphant setting of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of Catholicism's most venerated sites, the gold-vested pontiff delivered a 25-page ``apostolic exhortation'' that is intended to serve as a plan for the church of the Americas in the new millennium.

The document tackles everything from the global economy to reading the Bible, from ecological disasters to racial discrimination to the role Catholics should play in the political realm. It calls on the church to bring the word of God not only to the poor but to cultural and civic leaders - a strategy the pope hopes will help promote the church's social teachings.

``We must stir up a new springtime of holiness on the continent,'' the pope urged, looking somber throughout the ceremony. The 78-year-old pontiff also appeared worn as he finished saying a 2-1/2-hour Mass at the basilica, which was attended by tens of thousands of worshipers filling the church, the plaza outside and nearby rooftops. The service was the highlight of his second day here and one of the central events of this visit.

Important work

Though most of the exhortation's teachings are not new, ``Church in America'' may stand out as one of the major works of this already storied papacy. Few documents have attempted to draw so many disparate issues of modern life into a single, coherent vision of what it means to be a Christian, and church leaders have high hopes that it will launch a new era.

``I think it is important. It's the only thing like it for the Americas,'' said Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, one of 20 bishops who helped prepare early drafts of the document, and one of the pope's concelebrants at Saturday's Mass. ``It was a faithful expression of what was said at the Synod (for America in 1997), and what the bishops voted on . . . The fact that we achieved consensus around so many issues was a little bit of a surprise. Perhaps that means it really does make sense to consider us a single America.''

The pope gave worshipers an idea of where they might start in his homily Saturday.

``No more violence, terrorism, drug trafficking! No more torture or other forms of abuse! There must be an end to the unnecessary recourse to the death penalty. No more exploitation of the weak, racial discrimination or ghettos of poverty! Never again!'' he said to building applause. ``The Continent of Hope must also be the Continent of Life! This is our cry: life with dignity for all!''

That concern for life is a repeating theme in ``Church in America,'' with several warnings against abortion, euthanasia and the death penalty, all considered sins by the church. More broadly, the document restates the church's feeling for the world's underdogs - in human rights, economics and moral issues.

``In America as elsewhere in the world, a model of society appears to be emerging in which the powerful predominate, setting aside and even eliminating the powerless,'' the exhortation declares, using ``America'' to signify North and South America together.

Rich and poor

More than half a dozen times, the document calls on the church to work on behalf of the poor, especially in light of the globalization of the economy and the hegemony of free-market capitalism - a system, the document asserts, that is sometimes used as an excuse to exploit the poor.

But it was the document's call to look after the spiritual lives of the powerful that caught many readers by surprise.

``Pastoral care for the leading sectors of society has been neglected and many people have thus been estranged from the church,'' the document notes. ``If this evangelization of the leadership sector is neglected, it should not come as a surprise that many who are a part of it will be guided by criteria alien to the Gospel and at times openly contrary to it.''

As a corollary, the exhortation also calls upon the church's lay people to bring their faith to bear in their work, including politics.

``America needs lay Christians able to assume roles of leadership in society,'' it argues. ``It is urgent to train men and women who, in keeping with their vocation, can influence public life and direct it to the common good. In political life, understood in its truest and noblest sense as the administration of the common good, they can find the path of their own sanctification.''

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Pope John Paul II prays at the conclusion of Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Saturday.

Eric Draper/Associated Press

(2--Color) Pope John Paul II sits under an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe draped with a Mexican flag while celebrating Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Saturday.

Ricardo Mazalan/Associated Press