The group traveled to Cuba to attend Mass and other events with Pope Francis.
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At least three Cuban dissidents were arrested outside of the Plaza of the Revolution as Francis delivered mass there, the BBC reported.
On his second full day in Cuba, Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the communist country’s fourth-largest city, Holguin, before he leaves the next day for Washington to meet with President Obama and address a joint session of Congress.
Following the service, Francis is scheduled to hold a private meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro, and may pay a visit to Castro’s ailing brother and predecessor, 89-year-old Fidel Castro.
Pope Francis appointed O’Malley to two key positions, including a spot on a panel investigating priest sex abuse.
The meeting brought together the leader who shaped Cuba for the last half of the 20th century and Latin America’s first pope, who is credited by many Cubans with opening a path to the future by mediating the warming diplomatic relations between their country and the United States.
Pope Francis will move on to the United States later today, where he will remain until Monday.
He said they should continue to be “at the service of the frailty of your brothers and sisters” and “not neglect them for plans which can be seductive, but are unconcerned about the face of the person beside you”. At his open air mass, Francis told an estimated 200,000 people to beware of the dangers of ideology and the lure of selfishness.
The Pope gave him several books, including one on the writings of a Jesuit priest who taught Mr Castro in school more than 70 years ago and had to flee the island after the Cuban Revolution. He says he’s not religious, but is coming more to witness a historic event.
He warned Cubans about succumbing to “seductive” plans for the future, an allusion to what may lie ahead for Cuba as the nation becomes less politically and financially isolated.
During the first two days of his visit, Francis has stuck largely to spiritual messages in speeches, though he has also called for tolerance of different ideas and urged the old Cold War foes to deepen their detente after this year’s restoration of relations.
According to legend, locals first saw a statue of Cuba’s patron saint, Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, floating in the Holguin bay in 1612 after a storm.
Pope Francis and Fidel Castro had a brief meeting in Havana on Sunday at the former Cuban leader’s home.
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Francis praised the détente between the two long-estranged neighbors as “an example of reconciliation for the entire world” that “fills us with hope”.
