Pope John Paul II waves to a crowd before celebrating Mass at the Virgin of Coromoto cathedral near Gunare, Venezuela, Saturday Feb. 10, 1996. An enthusiastic crowd of about 150,000 people welcomed the pope to the hot, rural plains of Venezuela, where he is to bless the Virgin of Coromoto cathedral, reportedly the largest built this century in the Westen Hemisphere. (AP Photo/Gulio Broglio)