1.
LV PLANE ON TARMAC.
0.05

2.
LV OFFICIALS BOARD.
0.14

3.
LV PLANE
0.17

4.
LV POPE GOES ABOARD.
0.22

5.
SV PLANE TAXIS AWAY
0.32



Initials PC/V/MR/JM



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: POPE PAUL LEFT ROME TODAY (WEDNESDAY) ON A THREE DAY VISIT TO BOMBAY. THE LONGEST JOURNEY UNDERTAKEN BY A POPE IN TWENTY CENTURIES OF CHRISTIANITY.

HE LEFT THE CAPITAL BEFORE DAWN, AND LANDED FOR A HALF-HOUR REFUELLING STOP AT BEIRUT, LEBANON, AT 0622 GMT, JUST OVER AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER. THE POPE WAS GREETED AT BEIRUT AIRPORT BY PRESIDENT CHARLES HELOU, CABINET MINISTERS AND OTHER OFFICIALS.

HIS AIR-INDIA BOEING JET AIRCRAFT WAS AIRBORNE AT 0446 GMT, 16 MINUTES BEHIND SCHEDULE. BECAUSE OF THE LATENESS, HE DID NOT DELIVER A SHORT PREPARED SPEECH AT THE AIRPORT.

HEAVY RAIN FELL AS THE POPE, WHO SPENT YESTERDAY IN PRAYER, DROVE FROM THE VATICAN BEFORE DAWN AND BOARDED THE AIRCRAFT WITHOUT SPECIAL CEREMONY.

SIMPLICITY IS TO BE THE KEYNOTE OF THIS FIRST PAPAL JOURNEY TO ASIA, IN WHICH POPE PAUL WILL MAKE CONTACT WITH THE CONTINENTS NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS AND THE UNDER-DEVELOPED WORLD, WHILE VISITING THE INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS.

(IN THE POPE'S WORDS, HE WAS TRAVELLING AS A MISSIONARY, WHICH MEANS A WITNESS, A SHEPHERD, AN APOSTLE ON THE MOVE.)