Pope discusses Cuban people, church's role with Raul Castro

Pope discusses Cuban people, church's role with Raul Castro

Image distributed by L'Osservatore Romano showing Pope Benedict XVI meeting Tuesday at Cuba's Palace of the Revolution with President Raul Castro. EFE

 
 
      

Havana, Mar 28 (EFE).- Pope Benedict XVI analyzed the situation of the Cuban people and the Catholic Church's expectations for a bigger role in the country's future during a meeting here with President Raul Castro.
The pontiff visited the Palace of the Revolution in Havana on Tuesday, his most politically oriented day on the Communist-ruled island, becoming the second pope to set foot there after his predecessor, John Paul II, in 1998.
Benedict and Castro spoke face-to-face - with the aid of an interpreter - for 40 minutes, a period of time Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said was "very lengthy" and showed the importance the pope gave the encounter.
Asked about Cuban dissidents' requests to meet with the pope, Lombardi said Benedict XVI "is well informed" of the demands of that collective but he stressed that the trip to Cuba was "very short" and therefore no meeting was scheduled with those groups nor even with members of religious orders, priests or seminarians.
The pontiff asked Raul Castro to declare Good Friday a holiday on the island, similar to John Paul II's successful request to Fidel Castro to grant that status to Christmas Day.
The meeting unfolded in a "very cordial and serene" atmosphere, according to Lombardi, who stressed the "good relations" between the Vatican and the Cuban government and characterized the gathering as "very positive."
Lombardi said the pope is in "very good" health but was starting to show signs of fatigue near the end of the two-country trip, which began in Mexico on March 23.
Benedict arrived at the Palace of the Revolution in the company of the Vatican's No. 2, Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, who held a parallel, 20-minute meeting with high-ranking officials including Cuban Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura and the vice president of the Council of State, Esteban Lazo.
At the start of the meeting, Raul could be overheard telling the pope that authorities had decided to delay moving the clocks forward on the island as a courtesy to him.
The pontiff gave the Cuban leader a facsimile of the book "Geographia de Tolomeo," while the president returned the favor by presenting Benedict a wooden image of Our Lady of Charity, Cuba's patron saint.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the two men departed through the door leading to the Plaza de la Revolucion, where the pope will wrap up his visit to the island Wednesday by celebrating a huge open-air Mass.
Benedict XVI arrived in Havana after visits to the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba and the sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity in the town of El Cobre, where he kneeled before the patroness and prayed for prisoners, separated Cuban families and for Haiti.
"I prayed to the Virgin for the needs of those who suffer, of those who are deprived of freedom, those who are separated from their loved ones or who are undergoing great moments of difficulty," the pope told those in attendance early Tuesday.
Shortly after the pope urged in remarks at the Sanctuary of El Cobre for the island to advance down the path of "renovation and hope," Cuban Vice President Marino Murillo issued a statement in Havana indicating that present steps to modernize Cuba's socialist model do not include political reforms.
On Tuesday, the illegal but tolerated Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation said more than 150 dissidents had been arrested in connection with this week's papal visit to the Communist-ruled island and it fears the number of arrests will mount.
In a communique, the commission said the government's repressive measures surrounding the papal visit have included blocking the telephone connections of several hundred dissidents, independent journalists and critical bloggers.
It also said some 200 Cubans critical of the regime "have been prohibited from attending the public Masses of Pope Benedict XVI" in Santiago de Cuba and Havana.
The Cuban government, which considers dissidents to be counterrevolutionaries and mercenaries in the service of the United States, warned on the eve of the pope's arrival that those who attempt "to obstruct this apostolic visit with political manipulations ... will fail."
Also Tuesday, Fidel Castro said in an article published on the official Web site Cubadebate that he will meet with Benedict on the final day of his visit.
"I will gladly greet His Excellency Pope Benedict XVI tomorrow (Wednesday) as I did John Paul II, a man for whom contact with children and the humble invariably aroused feelings of affection," Castro wrote in his most recent "Reflection." COPY : http://www.efe.com/