Pope arrives in Cuba calling for freedom, better US-Cuba relations

Pope Francis began his visit to Cuba praying for greater freedom for the island's people and calling on U.S. and Cuban politicians to continue moving toward fully normal and neighborly relations.

Sep 24, 2015

HAVANA: Pope Francis began his visit to Cuba praying for greater freedom for the island's people and calling on U.S. and Cuban politicians to continue moving toward fully normal and neighborly relations.

Meeting President Raul Castro and speaking before a small crowd at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport Sept. 19, Pope Francis said the Cuban-U.S. rapprochement announced in December is "an event which fills us with hope" after decades of tensions and a 55-year-old economic embargo against Cuba.

The new U.S.-Cuban relationship, which leaders of both countries said the pope had a role in facilitating, are "a sign of the victory of the culture of encounter and dialogue," Pope Francis said.

"I urge political leaders to persevere on this path and to develop all its potentialities as a proof of the high service which they are called to carry out on behalf of the peace and well-being of their peoples, of all America, and as an example of reconciliation for the entire world," the pope said.

Briefly straying from his prepared text, the pope said, "Our world needs this reconciliation at this time of the 'third world war,' which is being fought in stages," with multiple small conflicts going on simultaneously.

Castro told the pope that the full normalization of relations with the United States "will demand resolving problems and correcting injustices."

The economic embargo, established by the United States in 1960, "is cruel, immoral and illegal, and it should cease," Castro said. He also insisted the U.S. return the land on which the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is constructed.

Highlighting the 80th anniversary of Vatican-Cuban diplomatic relations and the visits of St. John Paul II in 1998 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, Pope Francis also encouraged the Cuban government to continue giving greater freedom to the Catholic Church in the communist country.

"Today we renew those bonds of cooperation and friendship, so that the church can continue to support and encourage the Cuban people in their hopes and concerns, with the freedom, means and space needed" to proclaim the Gospel, especially to people on the margins of society.--CNS