Associated Press - Tuesday June 3 11:32 AM EDT
By Philip Pullella
GNIEZNO, Poland (Reuter) - Pope John Paul said on Tuesday a wall of economic and political selfishness as divisive as the communist Berlin Wall was threatening European unity.
"Since the collapse of the visible wall, another invisible one has been discovered, one that continues to divide our continent -- the wall that exists in people's hearts," he said in a sermon at an open air mass.
The Pope chose Gniezno, Poland's first capital, to deliver his forceful message on European unity at a ceremony marking the 1,000th anniversary of the martyrdom of St Adalbert, a missionary from Bohemia who helped bring Christianity to Poland and other countries.
A rapturous crowd of some 250,000 people on a rolling hillside below the 14th century Gniezno cathedral, traditional seat of Polish Catholicism, turned out to see the 77-year-old Pontiff, who is on the fourth day of an 11-day pilgrimage to his homeland.
He spoke in a strong clear voice and one pilgrim in the crowd said: "This is like the Pope of old, the Pope of 10 years ago."
Since the emotional trip began on Saturday, the Pope has attracted almost a million people who have flocked to his masses to hear his calls for a spiritual renewal in post-communist Poland as it embraces economic and political freedom.
The presidents of countries whose Christian roots were affected by St Adalbert's mission -- Poland, Germany, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Lithuania and Ukraine -- attended the service and later had a private meeting with the Pope.
He urged continued commitment towards cooperation between European countries and added: "No country, even a weak one, can be left outside the sphere of the communities which are now arising."
While thanking God for the "great gift of freedom" granted to the nations of Europe with the fall of communism after decades of repression, the Pope declared: "The recovery of the right to self-determination and growth of political and economic freedom are not sufficient to rebuild European unity."
He suggested in his sermon that the new invisible wall was no less insidious than the old one which physically divided the continent.
"It is a wall made out of fear and aggressiveness, of a lack of understanding for people of different origins, different colour, different religious convictions," he said.
"It is the wall of political and economic selfishness, of the weakening of sensitivity for the value of human life and the dignity of every human being.
"Even the undeniable achievements of recent years in the economic, political and social fields do not hide the fact that this wall exists," he said.
This invisible wall, the Pope said, was casting a shadow over all of Europe.
"The goal of the authentic unity of the European continent is still distant. There will be no European unity until it is based on unity of the spirit," the Pontiff said.
Before the mass, the Pope prayed before the relics of St Adalbert in a tomb in the cathedral.
John Paul, who has suffered a series of health problems in recent years, has been holding up relatively well since he started the gruelling trip which will take him to 12 cities and towns before he returns to Rome on June 10.