100,000 HEAR POPE IN TWA DOME; PONTIFF CALLS FOR PRESERVATION OF HUMAN LIFE, DIGNITY

ST. LOUIS -- The simple words of Pope John Paul II echoed through the Trans World Dome Wednesday during the largest indoor Mass ever celebrated.

More than 100,000 people attended the standing-room-only Mass.

The pope's words reiterated the message of preserving human dignity and life, strengthening the family and the "priceless value of Catholic education."

It was a message well received by his audience. At several points during his sermon, cheers and applause interrupted the pope's words.

"You can just feel his spirit of joy and exuberance," said Bonnie Guyot of Perryville. She and her husband, Jim, attended the Mass.

About 350 members of St. Vincent de Paul parish in Perryville attended the Mass.

The Guyots daughter attended youth events Tuesday at the Kiel Center with every student at the Perryville Catholic high school.

"I've never attended Mass with 90,000 people before," Jim said. "I'm very glad I came."

Emotions ran high as celebrants sang the words "I was glad when they said unto me: We will go into the house of the Lord."

Ercilia Wichern cried as she watched the pontiff's arrival.

"It was so moving," said the Perryville resident who teaches at St. Joseph's School in Apple Creek.

She had seen the pope in 1979 in Chicago. "So I feel twice blessed," she said.

The pope still has a powerful message and people respond to it, said the Rev. Kevin Fausz of St. Vincent's Church..

Catholics responded to "the simplicity, truthfulness and the gospel values he puts forward," Fausz said after Mass while visiting with members of the church who were seated in the midsection of seats along the dome's floor.

The Perryville church is part of the St. Louis Archdiocese, which hosted Tuesday's and Wednesday's papal visit.

Hundreds of other Catholics from Southeast Missouri also attended the Mass. Most waited for hours in the predawn of Wednesday for seats. But they spent that time preparing for worship. Choirs and soloists performed beginning at 5:30 a.m.

The pontiff arrived at the Mass about 45 minutes later than expected.

As the popemobile circled the dome floor, priests waved and nuns jumped up and down in the aisles.

The pope spoke after scripture readings from the Old and New Testaments that including the gospels.

His homily, or sermon, touched on the issues of abortion, racism, and capital punishment.

Parents must know they are supported by the church when they make decisions concerning the foundation of the family, he said.

The family is the "first school of virtue and solidarity," the pontiff said. "As the family goes, so goes the nation."

"As believers, how can we fail -- how can we fail -- to see that abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are a terrible rejection of God's gift of life and love?" the pontiff asked.

He was answered by several moments of cheers, whistles and applause.

He also urged the faithful to remember the sick and others in distress.

John Paul's own ailing health was somewhat evident during the morning Mass. He paused several times to cough while reading from his homily and took a seat during a 20-minute communion.

"I felt like he looked frail," Wichern said. When she saw the pope nearly 20 years ago, he appeared much stronger.

"But since he got shot he's not been the same."

John Paul was shot in 1981 during an assassination attempt in Italy.

But even the pope's frailty makes his presence all the more powerful for the ill, said Fausz. "Even the sick and suffering can identify with him," Fausz said.

After celebrating Mass, the pontiff attended a lunch with his host Archbishop Justin Rigali, the cardinals and several Missouri bishops and priests.

He held a vespers service during the early evening at the Cathedral Basilica.

Vice President Al Gore and nearly 2,500 people bid the pontiff farewell as he prepared for a departure to Rome on Shepherd One.

Pope John Paul has visited the United States seven times. He is the most-traveled pope in Vatican history. Until 1960, popes restricted themselves to Vatican City, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.