Untitled

ON THE RECORD
OCTOBER 5, 1986 – THE DAY THE POPE CAME TO LYON
AND FOURVIERE BASILICA WAS BATHED IN LIGHT AND
SOUND
André Soulier
September 2010
This is a story about Lyon and at the same time, a historic moment. Many of our fellow
countrymen, as well as others, who came to visit our town on Sunday, October 5, 1986
remember this day. The evening air was so mild, marking the end of a wonderful Indian
summer. The Saône River reflected the moonlight and, between the Pont Bonaparte and
its bend at the Pierre Scize and the Saint-Vincent at the foothills of the Croix-Rousse,
shimmered as if it were a lake. The buildings and their colored façades served as a
reminder that Lyon is not only French but also part Italian. At nine-thirty in the evening,
the warm and deep voice of Pope John Paul II flowed down the slopes of Fourvière to
bless the city as well as those who crowded around the base of this sacred hill The
concert conceived and directed by Jean-Michel Jarre could then commence. It would
make no sense to recount it here, not only for the million spectators present but also for
all those who had the opportunity to hear it on the radio or watch it on television, for
words cannot do justice to the sound and the images projected on the hillside that
retraced mankind’s ascension towards the spirits, above the court house all the way up to
the Basilica of Fourvière. However, while those passionate about music and history can
look to the DVD of the event, in this article, we go behind the scenes and learn about the
concert and its organization.
A concert for John Paul II
Why, indeed, was there a concert for the Pope? There were multiple reasons. Lyon, the
first archdiocese of Gaul, welcomed the first non-Italian Pope, a man from Poland, a
country fought over and often ripped apart. Forty years earlier, in 1946, Edouard Herriot1
gave a speech on the Triple Glory of Lyon in which he admirably described Lyon as “one
of the most ardent centers of Christianity in Gaul”.
1
Mayor of Lyon from 1905 to 1957 and President of the Council of Ministers in 1924, 1926 and 1932.
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OCTOBER 5, 1986 – THE DAY THE POPE CAME TO LYON
AND FOURVIERE BASILICA WAS BATHED IN LIGHT AND
SOUND
Little did I know that, a short while later, I would be consulted by Lech Walesa, the other
Polish hero with whom I spoke in Gdansk during Pentecost 1988 at the vicarage of the
Church of Sainte Brigitte. The Berlin Wall would still be standing for eighteen months!
Receiving the Pontiff in Lyon following strict and austere protocol did not appear to us as
a sufficiently joyous occasion. This magnificent man, who exuded love of the world and
who could attest to the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps as well as the
enslavement of his tortured country in Katyn by the Soviet regime (which we now know),
undoubtedly deserved a welcome full of joy and hope. This is how I, as Deputy Mayor of
Lyon, believed it should be. I had no difficulties in convincing Francisque Collomb or
Charles Béraudier, Deputy Finance Minister, to organize a huge celebration for anyone
and everyone who wished to participate, without any of the constraints of official
decorum. I did not have much difficulty in obtaining the private funding necessary, from
those who donated out of pious devotion and others who did so to demonstrate their
pride in Lyon to the rest of the world.
Jean-Michel Jarre – the clear choice
Yet, who would give a concert of such great magnitude? For me, the choice was
immediately clear: Jean-Michel Jarre. It was the only choice, and not only because he
had just offered a million and a half Texans an incredible concert in Houston, following
such accomplishments as Oxygène, Equinoxe, the Champs magnètiques and other
unforgettable works of art, but also because he embodied all that is Lyon: his maternal
grandfather, inventor of the first modern record player, was native of Lyon; his mother,
France Pejot, was a resistance fighter who knew all the escape routes through the secret
passageways of the city; and his father, Maurice, was also born in Lyon and left at the
end of the 1950s for the United States to become one of the most famous film music
composers of all time. He, in fact, created the music for “Lawrence of Arabia” and
“Doctor Zhivago”, with which we are all familiar.
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OCTOBER 5, 1986 – THE DAY THE POPE CAME TO LYON
AND FOURVIERE BASILICA WAS BATHED IN LIGHT AND
SOUND
There was another, more sentimental, reason for me that added to the Lyonnais touch of
Jean-Michel Jarre. I was a partner in a law firm with a man named Antoine Nicolaï until
his death in 1973. He was a perfect humanist who left a great mark on his fellow
attorneys. Antoine’s brother, Jean, who was also a great resistance fighter and former
prisoner in a concentration camp, married the sister of France Pejot. In my eyes, as a
representative elected by the people of Lyon, Jean-Michel Jarre was our choice, above
and beyond his internationally renowned talent.
Surprisingly, no one, except for our municipality, showed the least bit of interest in our
project. The President of the Republic of France – representing one party, the French
government – representing the other party, the Prefecture and its police department did
not take care of anything, yet this event should have been viewed by them as a nice and
festive opportunity to bring people together along the banks of the Saône.
And what about security…
As such, the remarkable technical services of the city of Lyon and I were able to work in
complete peace with Jean-Michel Jarre and his team until 7 a.m. on Sunday, October 5.
I was on my way home for final preparations when I received a call from the current
Police Prefect, Mr. Bastelica. Apparently, up until then, the police department’s primary
preoccupation had been the Pope’s security, especially since he had already been a
victim of an attack at Place Saint Pierre de Rome and was legitimately concerned
following the acts of terrorism in Paris a few weeks prior. Consequently, the police
department had not considered the possible safety issues surrounding the gathering that
we were planning.
The Prefect, notified rather late in the organization process, wished to inspect the location
where the concert was to take place. (Neither he nor I, for that matter, imagined that, a
few hours later one million people would flood the banks of the Saône, all the way
towards Perrache up to the Saint Vincent footbridge.
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OCTOBER 5, 1986 – THE DAY THE POPE CAME TO LYON
AND FOURVIERE BASILICA WAS BATHED IN LIGHT AND
SOUND
The Place Bellecour and the Place Terreaux would be inundated with people and the
roofs of buildings occupied by hordes of young people.)
So, that radiant morning, we walked the banks of the Saône where all circulation was
going to be prohibited. The scene of the concert, where Jean-Michel Jarre, his musicians,
the technicians who would diffuse the giant images on the hill, and about a hundred boys
and girls of the Chorale de Cigale singing under the direction of the demanding and
efficient Christian Wagner, was to be on the footbridge and the parking area located in
front of the Palais de Justice.
It was then that we had a terrible realization. No one had taken the precaution to have
all the cars removed from the underground parking. All it would have taken was one car
equipped with explosives ready to kill…. I think back to this moment with dread.
However, it was too late to cancel the concert and too late to order the evacuation of
hundreds of cars. It was too late for everything this Sunday morning. But providence was
with us.
Nostradamus was wrong
And later that same evening, we were faced with another concern – a significant one. For
convenience purposes, and especially out of respect for the illustrious Visitor, it had been
agreed with the Archdiocese that the first musical notes would only be heard at night
close to thirty minutes after the Pope’s final words. It became quickly apparent that the
crowd, which became enormous as early as eight o’clock, was getting impatient, so
much so that the situation could have become dangerous and resulted in serious injuries.
We owe a great deal of thanks to the Archdiocese at the time, Albert Decourtray, who I
was able to get a hold of in spite of the fact that he was extremely busy with the Pope. It
was he who beseeched the Pope in allowing the concert to begin within seconds
following his speech. This was a stroke of magic and our salvation.
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OCTOBER 5, 1986 – THE DAY THE POPE CAME TO LYON
AND FOURVIERE BASILICA WAS BATHED IN LIGHT AND
SOUND
All we had to do now was lose ourselves in the music and the images. At least, this is
what I believed until another thought struck, our last worry of the evening: with so many
people assembled, the platform of the Saint Vincent footbridge could bend and break at
any moment, throwing hundreds of people into the Saône. And if one were to read the
prophesy of Nostradamus, a catastrophe was to befall us that would be remembered for
centuries, a catastrophe that would have occurred at the moment of the Pope’s visit,
when the rose takes center stage, between the Rhône and the Saône. Thank God, if I
may dare write given our laic country, firemen and policemen, little by little and with
patience worthy of all praise, succeeded in evacuating the footbridge, or in any event,
lightened its load. At that instant, the Prefect Bastelica and I, sitting down on the
footbridge itself, shared a cigar to alleviate the stress that had gripped us – a small
indulgence for which we can certainly be forgiven. At that moment, we could then finally
savor the concert that will still be remembered a hundred years from now.
Thankfully, Nostradamus’ prophecy did not come true.
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