Rehana Rossouw
Pope John Paul II’s historic service at Gosforth Park last Sunday is in danger of going down in the history books as a reverse of the miracle of the loaves and
Jubilant officials in the Catholic Church claimed the event was one of the biggest public gatherings ever in South Africa, estimating that more than 300 000 worshippers turned up. Some overseas newspapers put the numbers at no more than 70 000 and shrugged it off as something of a flop.
The disparity in estimates has obvious significance. If the church’s figures are to be accepted, the gathering eclipsed even the massive Easter assemblies of the ZCC at Moria, which are attended by an estimated quarter of a million. If 70 000 is closer to the truth, Nelson Mandela — who attended Sunday’s gathering — regularly trumps the pontiff.
It proved difficult this week to get to the truth of it all. The head of the Papal press office, Rod Knight, was quoted by the South African Press Association as saying the South African National Defence Force used an aerial photograph to arrive at a figure of between 300 000 and 326 000. The M&G asked the SANDF for access to the photograph. The SANDF said it did not exist.
“We got what we were expecting and organised for,” was the terse comment of Father Emil of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Conference organiser Debbie Mansor had more to say: “I was in the operations room with the police and traffic officials and I heard them say over the radio that there were between 300 000 and 326 000 people.”
Anyway, she said, “all that matters is that he came and that it was a success”.