YESTERDAYS 35 years since the Pope’s

POPE John Paul II travelled to many countries but his trip to Cardiff will always be in the memories of the hundreds of thousands of people it attracted from across the UK.

The momentous day was 35 years ago, but is still remembered fondly by those who queued and camped out overnight to get their space in the crowd.

On June 2, 1982, thousands of people lined the streets to greet the Pope as he visited the capital on the last day of his six-day visit to Britain.

He held a Mass at Pontcanna Fields which was turned into a giant open-air cathedral attended by about 200,000 people. The arrangements for the Cardiff event had virtually turned the Papal Mass into an all-night vigil. Crowds had been advised to be in their places before 8am – two hours before the Mass was due to start but thousands started their pilgrimage to the city the previous evening.

The flag-waving crowd greeted the Pope with shouts of “Welcome to Wales, John Paul – we love you”, as he travelled through on the larger of his two Popemobiles.

A wooden 60ft-high dais was built for his last open-air mass, the second built after the first was burned down by arsonists.

A papal bodyguard smoking in the toilet was responsible for setting off a fire alarm under the dais during the Pope’s homily.

More than 20 bishops and 30 priests celebrated Mass with the Pope, with the dais and altar bedecked by thousands of blooms grown in the council nurseries. The Pope greeted the congregation in Welsh and during the Mass he received seven gifts representing the art and industry in Wales.

He told the crowd: “And as long as the memory of this visit lasts, may it be recorded that I John Paul II, came to Britain to call you to Christ, to invite you to pray.”