Cost of L.A. Papal Visit: $2.89 Million

The 48-hour visit of Pope John Paul II to Los Angeles last September cost the Catholic archdiocese $650,000 more than donations and program sales brought in, but Archbishop Roger M. Mahony said that amount was absorbed by funds set aside for the purpose.

The final tally on expenses was $2,895,033--almost $300,000 more than was predicted in an interim estimate made last December by Msgr. Jeremiah Murphy, archdiocesan director of support services.

At that time Murphy said that donations, parish collections and commemorative booklet sales had produced a little more than $2 million, but that archdiocesan budgets were geared to take care of expenses above the receipts. Mahony’s detailed report released this week put the larger-than-expected shortfall at $651,447.

Mahony termed the “pastoral impact” of the visit invaluable in touching Catholics throughout the region. Participants and donations came from other Southern California dioceses as well.

The Pope took part in nine events in Los Angeles, including a motorcade, as a part of his American tour.

Four events accounted for more than half the costs. The Papal Masses at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sept. 15 and at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 16, cost $564,040 and $558,242, respectively. Rental of the facilities, plus use of technical equipment, maintenance and labor, were the major expenses for those two events.

The Pope’s high-tech youth rally at the Universal Amphitheater was linked to audiences in other cities via satellite TV transmission and cost $363,055. The Pope’s meeting with local leaders of non-Christian religions in Little Tokyo, because of equipment rentals and hiring of technical directors and producers, cost $133,218.

The Pope’s meeting with the nation’s Catholic bishops at the San Fernando Mission complex--one of the few non-televised events--cost only $1,770.

Preparations before the visit and other arrangements during and after the visit cost $435,824.