WARSAW, Poland -- Pope John Paul II kissed the ground of 'mother' Poland Thursday and pledged solidarity with his countrymen who are 'deprived of their liberty,' sparking an anti-government march in the streets of the capital.
'Long live Solidarity,' chanted more than 50,000 outside a Warsaw cathedral after the pope's first homily of his eight-day pilgrimage to his homeland, the second since John Paul was elected pope in 1978.
'Poland for the Poles ... This is the realPoland ... We want free elections,' shouted priests, fathers and children in the crowd, unfurling Solidarity banners and chanting the name of Lech Walesa, the founder of the banned trade union. Others held crucifixes high with one hand and made the 'V-for-victory' symbol with the other in a direct protest of 18 months of martial law in Poland.
The official PAP news agency claimed 'provocateurs' in the protest sought to spark a violent counterattack by police, but failed because of the 'attitude and calm of the forces of order' -- the police.
Denouncing military rule, the pope said at Warsaw's Okecie Airport he came to be with those who 'have suffered and are still suffering' in his homeland.
'I consider it my duty to be with my fellow countrymen in this sublime and at the same time difficult moment,' the pope said after he kissed the ground by the plane that brought him from Rome.
'Here I am then. I have come home.'
The pope said a 'kiss placed on the soil of Poland' is 'like a kiss placed on the hands of a mother,' adding the nation has 'suffered much' and 'therefore has a right to a special love.'
Church bells pealed as Poland's president, Henryk Jablonski, greeted John Paul in the name of the communist regime of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski.
On Friday, the pope meets for the first time with Jaruzelski and holds an outdoor mass for an expected 1 million people.
As the pontiff flew to Warsaw, church and state officials debated in secret a possible meeting between John Paul and Walesa.
In Gdansk, authorities placed a 24-hour guard around Walesa, founder of the banned trade union, but Walesa said he would travel to Czestochowa this weekend to try to see the pope.
Government spokesman Jerzy Urban said bodyguards were assigned to Walesa following 'reports of threats to his person' but there would be no limitations on the former union leader's movements.
As the crowd ioin Warsaw dispersed, police with drawn truncheons moved out from side streets, supported by reserves in trucks, and the demonstration melted away. 'See you tomorrow, see you again,' the crowd chanted.
Earlier, in the gothic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, the congregation burst into applause when the pope referred to 'the sad events associated with the date of Dec. 13, 1981' -- the night martial law was declared.
John Paul pledged solidarity with those Poles 'who are most acutely tasting the bitterness of disappointment, humiliation and suffering, who have been deprived of their liberty, been wronged and had their dignity trampled upon.'
Before leaving the cathedral, the pope joked with the congregation, clearly anxious to defuse tensions. 'It is dangerous not to have the text prepared in advance. If you don't, then you talk and talk,' he said.
Indirectly referring to the police, he said, 'there are some guests among us, and we should be graceful to them as they should be graceful toward us.'
Polish security forces arrested an impostor priest along the route to the cathedral, Polish television said. There was no indication if the man, who was wearing a cassock, had planned to try to attack the pope.
Eager Poles stood eight deep in front of the U.S. Embassy where a banner stretched across the street declared, 'We welcome the messenger of hope.'
The pope's first visit in 1979 was the catalyst for a national mood of hope and expectation that culminated with the formation of Solidarity in August 1980.
John Paul originally was to have visited Poland last summer, when the 600th anniversary year of the shrine at the JasnaGora monastery in Czestochowa began, but permission for his trip was held up by martial-law authorities.
Martial law was suspended last December, and the government has hinted it will be abolished if the pope's trip passes without incident.
