DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Pope John Paul II, visiting Moslem Bangladesh on his longest overseas trip as pontiff, Wednesday called for world peace and warned that 'man's God-given dignity and even survival itself' are being threatened.
The pope, on the first day of a two-week tour of Asia and the Pacific, told Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian leaders that he hoped his visit would alert humanity to the serious challenges it faces.
'There is a growing conviction that something must urgently be done to secure the peace and development that are the conditions for a better future for the whole human race,' John Paul said.
'We are painfully aware that man's God-given dignity and even survival itself are gravely threatened,' he said.
Eight girls holding lighted candles and dancing to the sound of drums and flutes, ushered John Paul into the palm tree-lined courtyard of the residence of Bangladesh's archbishop, which was crammed with 5,000 people.
As the crowd chanted 'joy huk' -- Bengali for long life -- the girls piled garlands around the pope's neck. In the background, the voices of Moslems calling their brothers to evening prayer at an adjacent mosque could be heard.
Recalling a prayer meeting for world peace he organized in Assisi, Italy, on Oct. 27, John Paul said peace and reconciliation are possible - with God's help.
M.A. Sobhan, directorof the Islamic Foundation of Bangladesh, supported the pope's call for interfaith understanding, saying, 'Islam is also a religion of world peace.'
The pontiff and his 35-member delegation left from Zia International Airport for Singapore on a special Boeing 747 jet at 8:30 a.m. Thursday (9:30 p.m. EST Wednesday) after a brief farewell ceremony given by President Hossain Mohammad Ershad.
Earlier, some 60,000 people filled Ershad stadium for a papal mass and ordination of 18 local priests. During mass, John Paul restated his belief that 'dialogue between Moslems and Christians is today more necessary than ever.'
Speaking from a pulpit built to resemble a rural Bangladesh straw hut, John Paul called for greater religious harmony.
'Everyone, especially the young, must learn to respect one another's religous beliefs and to defend freedom of religion,' he said, dressed in gold robes. The Polish-born pope spoke in heavily accented English but also delivered several greetings in Bengali.
The pontiff later broke protocol and bolted from his bulletproof limousine to take a short ride in a rickshaw. Smiling broadly and clearly enjoying himself, he shook hands with the startled driver before entering the archbishop's house.
Bangladesh is a nation of 90 million people -- 85 percent of them Moslems. Less than two-tenths of 1 percent of the population is Catholic.
The trip -- longest both in terms of distance and days spent outside the Vatican -- is his third to Asia and the Pacific since he became pope in 1978.
En route from Rome, John Paul said he decided to start his 32nd foreign tour in the Moslem nation because its people are 'very, very poor, simple and religious.' The World Bank ranks Bangladesh the second poorest nation on Earth, after Lesotho.
