Fifty for 150: Pope John Paul II in 1993 at center of Colorado’s biggest gathering

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I say to you, good morning!”

This story is part of Colorado at 150.

Those were the first words spoken by the headliner at the reputed largest gathering in Colorado history, which took place on the morning of Aug. 15, 1993, at Cherry Creek State Park southeast of Denver. 

The speaker was Pope John Paul II, and the gathered were 375,000 people who were part of the culminating event of World Youth Day, a periodic Roman Catholic Church production that promotes faith among young believers. The pope led a three-hour mass at the park for a throng that included participants from 70 different countries.

World Youth Day was actually a multi-day affair, and the pope had arrived several days earlier. His presence in and around Denver brought the attention of the world to Colorado, and it dominated activities throughout the metro area. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were in town for the event. So were “19 cardinals, 450 bishops, 3,000-plus media representatives” and 186,000 youth attendees, according to The Rocky Mountain News. A National Park Service incident report records that at one point the pope took an hour-long hike in Rocky Mountain National Park, which prompted a multi-agency security operation that included the Secret Service. 

In a measure of the scale of the event, McDonald’s set up 70 tents with grills and propane burners at the site of the mass. It was the largest operation in the restaurant’s history.

World Youth Day was not without its conflicts. The pope, whose anti-abortion stance was his main message at the event, drew objections to the church’s anti-LGBTQ+ positions, and gay and lesbian Catholics rallied at the state Capitol in anticipation of the pope’s visit. 

“We challenge the pope to seek hope and peace and justice for all people, especially the graceful, the beautiful and the queer people of God,” said Kevin Calegari, president of DIGNITY/USA, an organization of gay and lesbian Catholics.

The mass itself was marred by mass illness. Many of the “pilgrims” who attended walked 15 miles from Denver to the park in temperatures approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit. They “dropped like flies,” according to one account, and paramedics raced around in golf carts trying to treat them all. The Arapahoe County sheriff deployed a tractor-trailer full of an intravenous solution for dehydration patients. A 61-year-old man died of a heart attack.

But others noted a perceived positive influence of World Youth Day, which occurred during the so-called Summer of Violence in Denver, when the media played up fears of youth involved in gang activity.

In a day-after report on World Youth Day, The Rocky Mountain News wrote, “Mostly, Denver seemed graced by a remarkable period of tranquility. The summer of violence subsided, and the city was charmed by another face of youth. Confrontational abortion protests were called off. Even the Rockies baseball team had its longest winning streak.”

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