Pope Francis arrives for a vespers service in the San Cristobal…
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Francis began Monday in the eastern city of Holguín, where he celebrated a morning Mass in that city’s Plaza of the Revolution.
Pope Francis waves from his popemobile as he is transported to the…
Youths attend a meeting with Pope Francis in Havana, Cuba, Sunday…
While the crowds at the Mass cheered the Pope, many other Cubans were less impressed by his visit.
The pope will leave from Santiago Tuesday for the United States, where his itinerary includes stops at the White House, the US Congress and the United Nations General Assembly.
Pope Francis and New York City are a “match made in heaven”.
The pope spoke in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra mountains where Castro and his brother Fidel commanded a guerrilla army that swept through the country and seized power in 1959.
The Vatican described the 40-minute session with Fidel Castro at the former president’s home as “informal and familial”, with an exchange of books and discussion about big issues facing humanity, including Francis’ recent encyclical on the environment and the global economic system. Yet Francis and his entourage could – and should – have insisted.
There has been a Cross at the site since the late 17 hundreds, and it has become a place of pilgrimage for the Cuban people.
Now made of concrete, the five-meter (16-foot) landmark has endured through centuries of hurricanes and years of tensions between the Church and the communist regime, which was officially atheist for more than three decades until 1992.
President Raul Castro, who has said the pope has inspired him to consider joining the Catholic Church, effusively praised Francis on Saturday, particularly for his criticism of consumerism and environmental degradation. “We’ve tried so many things and nothing has worked”.
Alas, this weekend’s visit to Cuba gives more than a few pause. That compares to 700 parishes.Church-state tensions have eased since the 1990s.
Later Monday, he flies to Santiago, where he will meet with Catholic clergy. Francis, 78, suffers from sciatica and a bad knee, and Lombardi acknowledged Monday that the pope has been walking with difficulty during the trip, particularly on stairs.
It’s the pope’s third day on the island.
Cuba is an unfree society and the Pope has a duty to remind his hosts that wanting to preserve the social gains of the 1959 revolution is not an excuse for permanently depriving people of their right to choose their government.
It’s heating up quickly at 84 degrees Fahrenheit and high humidity, and lots of people are dressed in white to protect themselves from the Sunday. Raul Castro is 83.
Not to go too far though, the pope also expressed his regret that he could not welcome all Cubans, a reference believed to refer to the dissident community. I am very Christian. “There’s lying, robbery and there’s isn’t enough priority given to the family”. Five years ago, she returned to Cuba for the first time when she was invited by Chicago’s Francis Cardinal George. “Holguin is with you!”
Cuban First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel is heading the government delegation to receive the pontiff.
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He will be greeted at the airport by a local children’s choir before Mass in Holguin’s Revolution Square, under the gaze of a giant depiction of the ‘Virgin of Charity, ‘ Cuba’s patron saint, recently affixed to a neighboring apartment building.
