POPE Francis will stop by Cuba on his way to the United States in September, the Vatican said Wednesday, April 22. His planned trip comes months after he assisted in the negotiation of a diplomatic thaw between the two countries.
The exact date and duration of the Pope’s visit were not immediately announced, but the news elicited joyful reactions from people in Havana’s Cathedral Square.
“The Pope coming here, maybe he could … make more positive ways for Cubans to go towards religion, more than politics,” Raul Garcia, a Cuban-American who returned to the country, told CNN. “I think it’s going to be a very good visit, very beneficial for the country.”
The 78-year-old pontiff is the first from Latin America and will be the third to travel to Cuba, following trips made by John Paul II in 1998 and Benedict XVI in 2012.
“The presence of His Holiness in Cuba will be memorable,” said Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, according to BBC.
“He will receive the warmest hospitality of the Cuban people.”
US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro have praised Francis’ role in facilitating US and Cuba’s normalized relations.
“I want to thank His Holiness, Pope Francis, whose moral example shows us the importance of pursuing the world as it should be, rather than simply settling for the world as it is,” Obama said in December as he announced a US policy shift on Cuba.
The Pope wrote private letters to Obama and Cuban leaders saying the two countries should attempt to re-establish relations after years of friction.
“Today we are all happy because we have seen how two peoples, who were far apart for many years, yesterday took a step to get closer,” Francis said after the president’s announcement.
The Pope, who has shown great interest in international affairs since he was elected in 2013, is expected to visit South America in July with stops in Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay.
After his visit to Cuba, he is scheduled to make stops in Philadelphia, New York and Washington. He is expected to meet with Obama, address Congress, speak at the United Nations and to a gathering of Catholic families in Philadelphia.
(With reports from BBC, CNN, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend April 25-28, 2015 Sec. A pg.6)
