The Pope In America: POPE JOHN PAUL II

I GOT A PEEP AT THE POPE boasted a T shirt.

Lifelike posters of John Paul II—complete with the hint of a halo—were out on the streets too. Vendors were following the Fisher of Souls from city to city like a flock of seagulls. Pope buttons, two for $5, pens, medallions, portraits suitable for framing, Vatican flags, pennants proclaiming WELCOME POPE JOHN PAUL II: oceans of junk, rivers of memorabilia. Despite the Pontiffs preaching against materialism, the hucksters were out in full force.

One of the bestselling items, however, was the genuine article. Infinity Records, an appropriately named division of MCA, last week released 1 million copies of Pope John Paul II Sings at the Festival of Sacrosong. The recording was made in June when the Pope returned to Cracow, Poland, to take part in the sacred-music festival he had founded eleven years earlier as Karol Cardinal Wojtyla. When he sang along spontaneously with the Sacrosong singers, the Pope’s voice was captured on a master tape that MCA obtained. Rock stations last week were playing the Pope in the company of the Bee Gees and Led Zeppelin. John Paul will get nothing from the sales; his share of the take will go to charities. The prophecy after one week of sales of the $9.98 disc: the Pope has a growing following, but The Who can rest easy.