Havana (Reuters) – Pope Benedict XVI will close on Wednesday his visit to Cuba with a multitudinous mass in the mythical Plaza of the revolution in Havana and a meeting with Fidel Castro, after spending three days on the island with a message of renewal and openness to a country that has five decades of Socialist rule.
The historical leader of the Cuban revolution in the Tuesday night that saludarÃa “happy” the Envoy of Rome as it did 14 years ago with his predecessor, the late John Paul II, in a meeting that meant an end to hostilities between the Catholic Church and the Communist authorities announced.
“I came to the conviction that Marxists and sincere Christians (…) should and could fight for Justice and peace among human beings,” said Castro, aged 85, in one of their usual reflections written titled “The difficult times of humanity”.
“I proclaimed as well and thus contend,” added the former President, who declared to the atheist nation.
The Supreme Pontiff, 84, met on the eve with President Raúl Castro seeking to cement the influence of the Catholic Church in the Caribbean country, where the Government promotes a series of reforms that seek to modernize the economy without giving up the socialist ideology.
You could see that the Holy Father ordered “humanitarian” Castro, which many interpreted as a request to release political prisoners or the American contractor Alan Gross, sentenced to 15 years to install connections Internet considered illegal on the island.
Also requested to restore the holiday good Friday, in a gesture similar to that had his brother Fidel with the Polish Pope when it reinstated the Christmas before his historic visit in 1998.
After the meeting, State television showed smiling faces greeting you, weaving the hands before exchanging gifts. Castro gave the Pope a wooden statue of the Virgen de la Caridad and this was with a religious book decorated with colorful illustrations.
, However, is not expected to Benedict XVI audience will give the dissident groups accused by the Government of being mercenaries in the pay of United States, while opponents claim it will leave the country with a skewed vision.
Socialism, UNQUESTIONABLE
Meeting of the Bishop of Rome with the Cuban ruler crowned a long way in improving the Government’s relations with the Church, which has come to become the principal interlocutor of the authorities on sensitive issues such as dissidents and political prisoners.
Raul and Benedict XVI, seen as less charismatic but more pragmatic leaders that his predecessors, seek to strengthen a key Alliance in times of change affecting the island, where reforms have generated excitement and fear in a country accustomed to State omnipresence.
Although the presence of the Pontiff led to expectations of greater political openness on sensitive human rights and civil liberties issues, the Executive made clear during the papal visit that economic changes will not be transferred to the area of the single-party political system.
“In Cuba will not be a political reform.” Marino Murillo, Vice-President of the Council of Ministers and supervisor “In Cuba are talking about the update of the Cuban economic model that makes our sustainable socialism”, said Tuesday the official economic changes.
Transformations have allowed Cubans for the first time since the triumph of the revolution in 1959 buy and sell freely and houses and cars, acquire land for cultivation and expand the venture private areas previously reserved to the State, such as tourism and hospitality.
The Pope relaxed his speech on his arrival in Cuba on Monday, with references more or less veiled political prisoners, the need to deepen political change and renew society, but far from frontal commenting on the failure of communism before arrival.
However, the Holy Father kept his vision that the country needs new models to move forward and that the Church will have a “crucial” role in the future of the island.
(Edited by Carlos Aliaga and Silene RamÃrez)
