Pope Says Ciao to L.A., Hello, Monterey : Appeals to Landowners to Respect Claims of Farm Laborers

Pope John Paul II bade goodby to Los Angeles this morning, clasping hands with scores of aviation employees and lawmen at Los Angeles International Airport before flying to the lush growing fields of Monterey, where he held Mass for an estimated 50,000 people. On a dusty race track, he appealed to landowners to “respect the just claims of their brothers and sisters who work the land.”

After a 6 1/2-hour stop in Monterey--where his airport welcomers included movie star and Carmel Mayor Clint Eastwood--the Pope was to head for San Francisco, where groups of Jews, feminists and homosexuals all planned protests. The pontiff was to meet with AIDS patients this evening and celebrate Mass at Candlestick Park on Friday.

After two whirlwind days in Los Angeles, the Pope flew by helicopter from the St. Vibiana’s Cathedral rectory to the TWA maintenance hangar at LAX, where his “Shepard One” jet awaited him. Accompanied by Archbishop Roger M. Mahony and a phalanx of Secret Service agents, he strode straight toward a grandstand, where 100 airline mechanics, pilots and stewardesses waited to see him off, hoping he might linger with them.

The Pope moved slowly along the barricade in front of the cheering crowd. He lightly hugged several children and shook any hand that reached out to him, murmuring quietly in amusement as he passed.

Lorna Williams, a TWA secretary and a Roman Catholic, stood stunned after he passed, staring and touching her left hand.

“Oh, my! It’s such a shock,” she gushed to a friend. “What a fabulous, fabulous man!”