c. 1998 Religion News Service

HAVANA _ Not every Cuban is thrilled Pope John Paul II has made his unprecedented trip to Cuba to bolster the fortunes of the Roman Catholic Church on the island.

A small but influential cadre of hardliners _ true believers in Cuba’s Marxist-flavored revolution _ are angry and frustrated, fearing the pope’s visit will threaten the system they have defended for almost 40 years against what they believe are corrupting foreign influences.

These hardliners oppose the growing influx of foreign investment and tourism on the island. They also decry the”dollarization”of Cuba _ Castro’s 1994 decision to allow Cubans to trade in dollars _ and accompanying economic reforms allowing small businesses to be opened on the island for the first time since 1959.

John Paul’s visit, in their view, is another huge step down the wrong road.

Miguel, a 23-year-old University of Havana student who did not want his last name used, was one of many who refused to line the streets with thousands of other Cubans to watch the pope’s motorcade carry the pontiff from Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport to the Vatican Embassy on Wednesday (Jan. 21).

The self-described atheist and young member of Cuba’s Communist Party called religion”pure superstition.”He also broke a taboo among the party faithful _ he criticized Fidel Castro for having invited the pope.”He must be getting old and not thinking straight,”Miguel said.”He can’t possibly think this will help the revolution.” As a party member, Miguel belongs to a minority on the island. Fewer than 30 percent of Cuba’s 11 million are members of the Communist Party, and some of those party members have joined religions since Castro eased restrictions on religious worship in 1991 and changed Cuba’s constitution in 1992 to make the island a secular, rather than atheistic, state.

Angel Rodriguez, 28, who studies mechanical engineering at the university, is a party member and a believer.”My family is Catholic and that’s how I was raised,”he said.

Unlike most Cubans, Rodriguez was baptized and confirmed and has made his First Communion. He and his family were forced, for a few years, to stop practicing their faith because of the party’s religious intolerance in the late 1970s and early ’80s.”It became difficult,”he said.

But Rodriguez is confident Cuba will never return to militant atheism. That possibility, however, upsets students like Miguel and his elders in the Communist Party.

A group of hardliners in the Central Committee, led by longtime party leader Machado Ventura, vigorously opposed the pope’s visit. While these true believers are said to have succeeded in their efforts to slow the drive toward economic liberalization on the island, their protests to Castro about the pope’s visit fell on deaf ears.

Castro warned the hardliners not to cause trouble during the papal visit. In a five-hour speech a few days before John Paul II’s arrival, the Cuban leader pointedly warned the hardliners against any demonstrations against the pope and urged everyone to put aside ideology and turn out to cheer.”This is what I ask,”Castro said.”Although there are people who don’t want to do it, I ask that they (celebrate the pope’s visit) for reasons I have explained, for patriotism, for their country, for the world.” The Rev. Juan Rios, the deacons of the Christ Risen chapel in Havana’s famed Colon Cemetery, said the number of Cubans disgruntled by the pope’s visit is very small.

The priest participated in a drive by the Cuban Catholic Church to visit every home on the island to inform Cubans of the basic tenets of Catholicism and the religious significance of the pope.

Rios said he was received warmly in most households. Yet, he said, he understands why some slammed the door in his face and are frustrated with Castro’s overtures toward the Vatican. He said atheism in Cuba is a learned belief, born of years of indoctrination that stamped out the natural spiritualism of the island’s people.

Motioning to a chapel pew, Rios said,”If, for more than 30 years, you were told that this is a bench, and suddenly you were told it was a wheelchair, you’d be frustrated, too.” The chapel priest is hopeful Catholicism will flower in Cuba. As proof of a growing respect for God on the island, he points to the fact that five years ago only half of the burials in the cemetery were accompanied by a religious service, now 75 percent of those who organize a funeral request church services.

Nevertheless, Rios said atheist hardliners could stage a comeback.”My personal opinion is that, historically, (the church in Cuba) takes a step forward and then a step back,”he said.

DEA END RADELAT