Speaking on arrival Saturday, the pope insisted that Cuba was meant to be a crossroads – in pointed contrast with its long isolation by the full embargo the United States has imposed on it since 1962. He echoed that call again to young people gathered at a Catholic community center in the shadows of Old Havana’s cathedral.
Advertisement
Thousands filled Havana’s Revolution Plaza for the Pope’s first Mass. Believers and non-believers alike streamed into the square before dawn to wait for Francis to arrive, and they erupted in cheers when he made his first drive-through the crowd in his open-sided popemobile.
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.
But he also urged both Cuba and the United States to “persevere on the path” of detente.
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.
Also Pope Francis warn-ed the Colombian government and FARC rebels on Sunday that failure is not an option in their ongoing negotiations to end a conflict that has burned for more than half a century. Francis marked a personal anniversary Monday, the day as a teenager he chose to become a priest. The pope is three days into his four-day venture through Cuba, after which he will head to the US on Tuesday for visits to Washington, New York City and Philadelphia.
On Sunday, Francis had a “friendly and informal” meeting with Fidel Castro at former Cuban President’s residence, the Vatican said. In return, Castro gave Francis an interview book titled “Fidel and Religion”, written in 1985 by Freitas Betto.
Pope Francis visits with Cuba’s President Raul Castro, in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, September 20, 2015.
Fifty-eight-year-old Idael Confesor Martinez Leyva wore a straw hat topped with Cuban and Vatican flags as she entered the plaza.
O’Malley celebrated Mass Monday in Havana for Cuban exiles who decided to return to their homeland.
The visit to Holguin, which has never been visited by a pontiff before, was a change of pace for Francis, who spent yesterday celebrating Mass and meeting with Fidel and Raul Castro in Havana.
Advertisement
Lombardi reported the meeting between Castro and Francis was conversational, unlike the 2012 encounter, when Fidel was reportedly pressing the German pope with questions.
