This Europe: Balloons prove biggest hit with children at papal Mass

The Roman Catholic Church encourages dialogue with other religions and sects, yet under Pope John Paul II it is also militantly evangelistic. It is truly conservative, but wants to be lively, accessible, fun. Those tensions explain why I spent Saturday morning at a Mass with balloons.

Our son, Gabriel, attends a French school on the outskirts of Rome run by Dominican nuns, and some weeks ago the parents were invited along on a trip to see the Pope.

The occasion was the 160th anniversary of the foundation of the Pontificia Opera dell'Infanzia Missionaria, an initiative begun by the Bishop of Nancy, who encouraged children to recite an Ave Maria every day for other, less fortunate children, and to donate some money every month. That was the beginning of a sustained attempt to recruit children to be missionaries in small ways. Pope Benedetto XV wrote in 1919 that the goal of the organisation was "to secure the baptism of non-Christian children".

We trooped in a crocodile down the mighty collonade that borders St Peter's Square, were quickly checked by security and found ourselves inside the Vatican's grounds. We were ushered into an immense new hall that seats about 5,000. On every seat was a red or a blue rucksack holding puzzles, a leaflet of hymns with a homily by the Pope, a coloured rosary and a balloon.

No prizes for guessing which item was the most popular. Slowly the Mass unfolded, the stage filling up with priests and servers, piping voices reading the lessons, an upright piano thumping out the hymns. Meanwhile, thousands of children blew up balloons, let the air out to make a rude noise, burst them, twisted them into sculptures or played volley balloon across the seats.

The solemn events on stageseemed unconnected, but when the Pope was wheeled in the children cheered as if he were a football star. I'm not sure too many of the children could have told you what it was all about, other than getting a distant glimpse of the Pope - and a balloon.