Pope John Paul, in Germany, Stresses Equality of All Races

FULDA, West Germany--Pope John Paul II yesterday stressed the basic equality of all making in speeches to Jews, Moslems and Protestants at the mid-point of his ten-day visit to Germany.

At a mass for the 65 bishops in West Germany, he also defended the church's celibacy requirement for priests, saying life without marriage permits a priest to dedicate himself totally to Christ.

And the Pope urged Roman Catholics to go to confession, a practice he said has dropped sharply.

Speaking to a delegation from the Central Council of Jews in Germany, which represents the country's 30,000 Jews, he said "The innocent victims (of the Nazi holocaust) in Germany and in other countries...are tragic proof of where discrimination and disregard of human dignity can lead, especially when animated by perverse theories and ideas about the difference in value of the races."

Thousands of foreigners, many in their national dress, cheered the Pope as he spoke in the Cathedral at Mainz, where he acknowledged the "hours of anguish, exhaustion, helplessness and disappointment in the life of a priest today," and praised those priests who "perform their duty with great conscientiousness."

The visit, John Paul's eighth trip abroad is the first by a Pope to Germany, Martin Luther's homeland, in 198 years.