NEWS STORY: Castro has hands full in upcoming papal trip

c. 1997 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Cuban President Fidel Castro has his hands full. From the mundane to the nettlesome, the aging communist leader is being put to the test by the preparations for the upcoming five-day visit of Pope John Paul II. But according to the pope’s spokesman, who just completed a […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ Cuban President Fidel Castro has his hands full.

From the mundane to the nettlesome, the aging communist leader is being put to the test by the preparations for the upcoming five-day visit of Pope John Paul II.


But according to the pope’s spokesman, who just completed a one-week visit to the island, everything is proceeding apace.”President Castro asked me to pass on to the Holy Father the assurance that he and his staff feel committed to ensuring the necessary cooperation so that the preparation of the pope’s pastoral visit is in accordance with its religious character and its historic nature for the good of the Catholic Church and all the Cuban people,”spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said Monday (Oct. 27).

Navarro-Valls, a Spaniard who spent six hours with Castro discussing everything from the pope’s views to literature and astronomy, called the Cuban leader”extraordinarily cordial.” Such comments may make the blood of U.S. policy makers boil, but, as Vatican officials note privately, they go a long way toward paving the way for a smooth papal trip Jan. 21-25, even if they unavoidably help Castro.”Navarro is there to do PR as much as to scope out logistics for the trip,”said one Vatican official. He said the”gracious comments”directed at Castro were a useful”propaganda tool.” The papal trip was sealed by the pope and Castro at the Vatican last November, the first time the two aging leaders had met. Vatican officials said at that time they felt relatively certain Castro would make good on pledges to ease restrictions on church affairs in Cuba.

In 1992, the pope also had planned to visit the country, but the trip was scuttled after Cuban authorities dithered over details and refused to allow public Masses and other papal gatherings.

Since then, the church in Cuba has been given more autonomy, though spats continue to break out. Two weeks ago an outdoor Mass was forced indoors after Cuban authorities said some people at the rally had political intentions.

A week ago, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the country’s top Catholic prelate, successfully celebrated an open-air Mass attended by 700 people. It was only last July that the first open-air Mass in Cuba in more than three decades was held.

But Castro appears determined to bar”undesirables”from using the papal trip to get under his skin. The government and the Vatican have agreed Cuba has the right to defend its borders from Cuban exiles who have promised to launch a flotilla to Havana from the United States during the trip.

In exchange, the church has received tentative permission from Castro to send a cruise ship filled with 1,000 pilgrims from Miami for the papal visit. Church authorities have agreed to screen the passengers.

Other problems remain, including accommodating the thousands of journalists seeking permission to enter the country; whether Cuba will grant the church permission to broadcast specials on the pope’s upcoming pilgrimage; and to what extent the government will work toward assisting Cubans who wish to attend papal events.


Plans for the trip are expected to be finalized next month when Roberto Tucci, who coordinates foreign papal trips, makes his second trip to Cuba.

END HEILB

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