48 congested hours down in God's outpost

Pope John Paul II takes mass at the Domain during his 1986 tour.

Pope John Paul II made the first visit to New Zealand by a Pope, for 48 crammed hours in late November 1986.

Labour's David Lange was Prime Minister in a country seemingly riven by strikes. Interest rates were 17 per cent, gay sex had just been decriminalised, and the Queen had been and gone.

On an Asia-Pacific tour, the spiritual leader of the world's Catholics travelled to Auckland from Fiji on Saturday, November 22, hopped to Wellington, then left Christchurch on the Monday bound for Australia.

We were lucky we had him that long. As the trip was being planned, a Herald report relayed alarming speculation that the Pope might come for just one day - rendering the visit rather pointless, according to church leaders.

Father Jim Lyons, who was media co-ordinator for the tour, suggested that perhaps someone at the Vatican had looked at a map of New Zealand and thought it was an offshore island warranting just a short hop.

That misconception was soon sorted out, and the Pope arrived at Auckland Airport on a sunny afternoon, dressed in white robes and "looking shorter and older than his pictures", and slightly stooped, according to a Herald reporter.

"Every camera, meanwhile, waited for the traditional kiss of the ground.

"The Pope was as good as his reputation, despite the fact that airport ground staff put him down on an oil-spotted, grubby bit of tarmac."

The man born Karol Wojtyla in Poland presided over festive open-air Masses at Auckland's Domain, Athletic Park in Wellington, and Christchurch's Lancaster Park, which combined attracted about 95,000 people.

That, again, was fewer than organisers had predicted, and people were less interested in papal souvenirs - spoons, flags, T-shirts, videos and books - than hoped; the church ended up $300,000 out of pocket.

What did pique the public interest was the Popemobile - an adapted Mitsubishi L200 with an enclosed glass canopy, which a Herald journalist described as "a ridiculous carriage without a cheering throng". (It was later sold for $35,000).

The Pope's New Zealand speeches, homilies and sermons were as expected from a religious leader - love God, strive for peace - except, possibly, the phrase "Peace be with you" in Maori and Tongan as well as English and Polish.

AS well as the open-air events, the Pope gave special addresses at events for the young; the sick, elderly and terminally ill; bishops; and Wellington diplomats.

In an editorial, the Herald summed up: "The Pontiff's long homilies [were not] the stuff to rivet public attention ... the Pope seemed to do and say very little to elicit a popular response ... but he transmitted something much more compelling ... the quality of love of a very high order.

"There was nothing soft, romantic or even unduly tolerant in his obvious concern for everybody."

Vignettes from that tour: striking Auckland icecream factory workers temporarily resumed work to ensure refreshments got to the Domain; Mangere Mountain bore the words "Pax. Welcome to Nuclear-Free New Zealand"; 10 nuns from a closed order in Christchurch made a rare appearance in public to see the Pope; a drunk 23-year-old Swiss tourist who made a rude gesture in front of the Pope was fined $188 in court.

An American Baptist minister bearing a 30kg wooden cross on a wheel strode up to Athletic Park; he was on a walk from Cape Reinga to Stewart Island as part of a world tour on foot. The last things the Pope said, standing at the bottom of aircraft steps, were: "God bless New Zealand." And indeed, many New Zealanders felt they had been blessed.

The texts of all the Pope's speeches in New Zealand are available online at the website below.