c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ When Pope John Paul II arrives in Cuba on Jan. 21 for what could be one of the most historic visits of his papacy, the top leadership of the U.S. Catholic Church won’t be there to greet him.

All six active U.S. cardinals making the trip will arrive in Havana late so they can attend vigils, demonstrations and worship services in Washington and Los Angeles marking the 25th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the Jan. 22, 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision liberalizing access to legal abortion.

Church experts said while it is unusual for ranking U.S. church officials to miss such a historic event involving the pope, the decision was a relatively easy one, since it pitted an international event against the American church’s top social and political issue.

All but one of the cardinals will attend an evening Mass on Jan. 21 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington as well as the Jan. 22 March for Life, which has been held every year since the landmark court decision. Most of the cardinals will fly to Cuba immediately after the march and attend the last three of four outdoor Masses the pope will celebrate.

“It shows the commitment and dedication to the serious issue of defending our country against feminist abortionists and the killing of unborn children,” said Nellie Gray, president of the March for Life. She said she was gratified the key Catholic leaders would attend the march in light of the significance of the Cuba trip.

The list of Catholic leaders planning to delay their trip includes Cardinals John J. O’Connor of New York and Bernard F. Law of Boston. Both have played key roles in the decade of quiet shuttle diplomacy helping to make the pontiff’s trip possible.

Others, like Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest archdiocese; Cardinal Joseph Bevilacqua of Philadelphia; Cardinal James A. Hickey of Washington; and Cardinal Adam J. Maida of Detroit are notable for the large number of Catholics they represent.

Mahony will attend a Los Angeles March for Life begun three years ago for West Coast Catholics unable to make the cross-country trip to Washington.

Although church officials have spoken out against abortion since its legalization in 1973, in recent years they have presented a more united front. Last year in an unprecedented public prayer vigil, some 50 bishops joined the cardinals gathered on Capitol Hill in an effort to sway Congress to pass legislation banning a controversial late-term procedure called by its opponents”partial-birth abortion.” Congress has twice passed the ban but it has been vetoed by President Clinton both times.

But the unified position of the church hierarchy has not convinced all U.S. Catholics abortion should be illegal. Gallup polls show 51 percent of Catholics believe the decision should be left to a woman and her doctor.

Thomas W. Roberts, managing editor of National Catholic Reporter, a liberal publication critical of the bishops for spending too much political capital on the abortion issue, said the cardinals’ decision to delay the Cuba trip was not surprising.

“The pope is so heavily anti-abortion that if they went to Cuba to greet him and missed the March for Life, they’d really be in hot water with him,” Roberts said.

In Cuba, meanwhile, as preparations for the pope’s five-day visit went into high gear, Cardinal Jaime Ortega called for a real dialogue between the church and the state.

He said there has been stepped up contact between church leaders and the government of Fidel Castro since John Paul accepted Castro’s invitation to visit the island nation but no real dialogue, Reuters reported Friday (Jan. 9).

Asked by the Cuban magazine Verdad y Esperanza about challenges awaiting the church at the end of the Jan. 21-25 visit, Ortega responded:”A dialogue with the state that still has to start seriously and which did not make advances during the year of preparation for the papal visit.” Church leaders hope that dialogue will include more public maneuvering room for the church, including access to state-run media and a role in education.

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