world beat
Chernenko ill,
papers claim
LONDON (AP) — British
newspapers reported Sunday
that Soviet President Konstan
tin Chernenko is being treated
in the intensive care unit of a
private Kremlin hospital, and
may resign because of
deteriorating health.
Western diplomats contacted
by The Associated Press in
Moscow said they had not heard
any such reports, although most
said they believe the 73-year
old Chernenko is ailing.
The Sunday Times quoted
“unofficial reports” as saying
Chernenko, who has not been
seen in public since Dec. 27,
will become the first Soviet
leader to step down voluntarily.
Another newspaper, The Ex
press, carried a report that said
Chernenko “has become so ill
he may be forced to resign.”
The newspapers did not say
what their sources were, or how
they obtained their information.
The Sunday Times said the
ruling Politburo already has ap
proved a plan to replace
Chernenko with 53-year-old
Mikhail Gorbachev, widely
believed to rank second in thp
Kremlin hierarchy.
“Under this plan, Gorbachev
would take over the post of
general secretary of the Com
munist Party, but would not
necessarily assume the
presidency — a mainly
ceremonial title. Indeed some
sources say Chernenko could
continue to hold this job while
stepping down as effective
leader," the newspaper said.
It said any such decision
would be made at a meeting of
the Communist Party Central
Committee next month.
A senior Western diplomat in
Moscow told the AP on Friday
that Soviet officials have
acknowledged Chernenko has
been ailing during the past four
weeks.
The diplomat said he had no
firm information about the exact
nature of his illness. However,
Chernenko is widely thought to
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be suffering from emphysema.
According to The Sunday
Times, Chernenko’s health has
deteriorated sharply in the past
week. The newspaper said
Chernenko’s doctors are look
ing after him in the intensive
care unit of a private Kremlin
hospital, and that “his
respiratory illness, including
emphysema, has now been
complicated by cardiac
deficiencies.”
“Observers reckon his illness
is now irreversible and it is
thought that this view has been
firmly expressed by the doctor
in charge of the president,
believed to be an outstanding
Czechoslovak specialist,” the
Sunday Times said. Despite
prolonged illnesses,
Chernenko’s two predecessors,
Yuri Andropov and Leonid
Brezhnev, died in office.
Pope arrives
in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)
— Pope John Paul II condemned
abortion, sterilization and
divorce Sunday as he celebrated
Mass before hundreds of
thousands of people who en
dured stifling tropical heat in
this nominally Catholic country
where abortion is common.
“Remember, it is never legal
to end a human life with abor
tion or euthanasia,” the Polish
born pontiff told the crowd of at
least 500,000 people who
gathered in an open field
Deneam a nmsiae snamyiown.
John Paul, the first pope to
visit Venezuela, was greeted by
cheers and singing Saturday
when he arrived in Caracas, his
first stop on a four-nation trip
that will take him to Ecuador,
Peru and Trinidad-Tobago. The
journey is the pontiff’s sixth to
Latin America and his 25th
abroad.
Abortion, although illegal, is
common in Venezuela, where
historic disputes between the
government and the Vatican
have limited the church's
authority. Church officials say
about 80 percent of the coun
try’s 16 million residents are
baptized by the Roman Catholic
Church, but only about 10 per
cent attend services regularly.
A large sign posted on a scaf
fold near the altar read: “John
Paul II, Defender of Life.” An
anti-abortion group passed out
leaflets among the crowd.
John Paul II, speaking in
Spanish atop a specially con
structed 60-foot-high altar
decorated with red and yellow
flowers, called on Roman
Catholics to fight against the
“plague of divorce that ruins
families and has such negative
effects on the education of
children.”
Facing the makeshift slums
that ring the modern
skyscrapers in this overcrowded
valley city of 4 million people,
the pope said contraception and
sterilization were “always
seriously illicit.”
He said parents “in a clearly
responsible way’’ should
decide the number and spacing
of their children.
“John Paul is our friend!
Venezuela is with you!” crowds
chanted at the end of the almost
three-hour Mass. The Interior
Ministry said before the Mass
that 500,000 people were
already on hand, but there was
no estimate of the size of the
crowd that actually heard the
pope speak.