Pope Francis begins his first full day in Cuba Sunday with a Mass in Havana’s historic Revolutionary Square.
The pontiff will address a crowd expected in the hundreds of thousands as he stands near a massive image of Cuba’s revolutionary leader Che Guevara.
Following the service, Francis will 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.
The pope will later hold evening prayers with a group of priests and other church officials, then speak before a group of young people at a cultural center.
Church marginalized
Pope Francis’s visit marks a turning point for the Catholic Church in Cuba, which was marginalized for years under Castro’s communist rule, but has slowly re-emerged as as powerful force on the Caribbean island.
The pope arrived in Havana Saturday for a three-day visit that marks the third papal visit to Cuba over the past two decades — John Paul the Second in 1998, and Pope Benedict in 2012.
He was greeted by Raul Castro who assured Francis in his welcoming remarks that religious freedom is “consecrated in Cuba’s constitution.”
Francis will also travel to the cities of Hoguin and Santiago during his visit, with plans to hold Mass and meet with Catholic clergy in both cities before departing for Washington.
The pontiff and Vatican officials facilitated several months of secret talks between Havana and Washington in 2014 that ended with last December’s historic announcements by Raul Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama that the two countries had decided to re-establish diplomatic ties that were severed in 1961, two years after Fidel Castro overthrew President Fulgencio Batista.
They have since re-opened embassies in Washington and Havana.
Upon his arrival in Havana, Francis praised the detente between the two long-estranged neighbors as “an example of reconciliation for the entire world” that “fills us with hope.”
‘Sign of victory’
He called the thawing of relations between the two nations “a sign of the victory of the culture of encounter and dialogue.”
In a 15-minute speech that quickly turned political, President Castro repeated calls for the U.S. to end its embargo of the island, which he called “cruel, immoral and illegal,” and for the return of Guantanamo Naval Station.
Washington imposed the embargo in 1962, and the current Republican-led Congress has ignored President Obama’s calls to end it.
The United States’ U.N. ambassador in turn tweeted criticism of Cuban authorities over reported detentions in advance of Pope Francis’ visit.
Ambassador Samantha Power’s tweet said human rights activists “and even homeless reportedly detained before @Pontifex visit; disappointing business as usual for #Cuban govt.”
Opposition groups have been reporting increased detentions of dissidents. Cuba’s government has not commented on the claims.
The pontiff’s U.S. schedule will include a private meeting with Obama, who will greet Francis when he arrives at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington; speeches before a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress and the United Nations in New York; and an appearance before a Vatican-sponsored World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.
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