Paul KeenanCitizens hail a ‘revolutionary’ Pope, writes Paul Keenan
“Who owns Pope Francis?” The question, posed as part of a liberal/conservative, religious/political speculation on the part of the secular media on the evening of September 18, took on an entirely different flavour less than 24 hours later when ordinary Cubans staked a claim to their Latin American Pontiff with colour and passion as Pope Francis stepped onto the tarmac at Jose Marti International airport in Havana.
Thus began a much anticipated visit to the Caribbean nation, geographically warm, and politically less cold in recent times as a result of the papal-backed deal on relations with the US. Indeed, missed by many as the world’s media turned eyes on Pope Francis was a release from the Vatican, also on September 18, confirming that the document agreeing substantive changes to US-Cuba relations had been signed in the Vatican as a mark of respect for the Pope’s hand in its existence.
In an interview with Italian television, the Vatican’s Substitute for General Affairs to the Secretary of State, Msgr Angelo Becciu, said of the negotiators: “They came here to the Secretariat to sign the two respective documents in the presence of Cardinal Pietro Parolin who acted almost as a guarantor of the word they had given each other.”
First address
It was a moment revisited by Pope Francis himself as he offered his first address upon landing in Havana.
“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,” he said.
Thus recent history caught up with the story ‘of the moment’ as Pope Francis received adulation and praise as he made his way through the streets of Havana past thousands of faithful Cubans who have spent the past few months listening not only to the addresses delivered by the island nation’s prelates and priests on the Pope and his works, but in recent weeks from near nightly television slots examining his life and papacy.
The warmth of that first welcome was to be as nothing, however, compared to the thousands upon thousands who crammed every inch of Revolution Square in the capital for the September 20 open air Mass.
Visiting journalists reported on the long months of waiting now reaching a tangible fever pitch in this central spot of Cuba’s communist revolution. It fell to Vatican-watcher John Allen Jr – travelling with the papal entourage – to point out the incongruity of the image of the Sacred Heart taking up as much hoarding as that of the image of revolutionary icon Ché Guevara just metres away!
More pointedly, the Pontiff, as he led the Mass, included in his homily a warning for Christians against blind servitude to ideologies.
“Service is never ideological, for we do not serve ideas, we serve people,” he said to rising cheers. “Being a Christian entails promoting the dignity of our brothers and sisters, fighting for it, living for it. That is why Christians are constantly called to set aside their own wishes and desires, their pursuit of power, and to look instead to those who are most vulnerable.”
With this message still echoing for the congregation, the Pope later referred to the peace talks ongoing in Havana between the opposing sides in Colombia’s decades-long civil war.
“We do not have the right to allow ourselves yet another failure on this path of peace and reconciliation,” he said in a message of solidarity to those who have been seeking Vatican guidance during the talks.
Whether the Pope’s uncompromising message on ideology ruffled feathers at the official residence of Cuba’s revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, is a question that must be left hanging as the cordial exchanges dominate the coverage.
What is known is that, as expected, Pope Francis met with a frail-looking Castro (now 89) and during a visit described by the Vatican press office as “informal and friendly”, the Pope gave Castro a number of books “including one by Italian priest Alessandro Pronzato and another by Spanish Jesuit Amando Llorentea. The Holy Father also gave him a book and two CDs of his homilies, as well as his two encyclical letters, Lumen Fidei and Laudato Si’.” For his part, Castro gave the Pontiff a copy of Fidel and Religion, a series of interviews compiled by Frei Betto, a Brazilian Dominican and follower of the Marxist liberation theology.
It goes without saying that in these days of change, the elderly Fidel Castro is already becoming a symbol of a ‘Cuba past’. Appropriately enough, then, Pope Francis next turned his attention to ‘Cuba future’ both in his celebration of vespers with young seminarians who will, Rome hopes, operate in a nation much freer for its priests, and with young people who gathered to meet the Pontiff at the Fr Felix Varela cultural centre in Havana.
Here the Pope emphasised hope as a vital factor in helping young Cubans, perhaps made cynical by years of ideological oppression, to create a better future together for their nation.
“Hope is a path [that] has an end, a goal,” he explained. “A path of hope calls for a culture of encounter, dialogue, which can overcome conflict and sterile confrontation. To create that culture, it is vital to see different ways of thinking not in terms of risk, but of richness and growth. The world needs this culture of encounter. It needs young people who seek to know and love one another, to journey together in building a country…”
Amidst all the new, however, there was still time for old traditions. At the time of writing, the Pope was undertaking his ascent of the 261-metre Loma de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross) near Holguin, from where he was expected to offer a blessing to the city below. In doing so, the Pontiff is offered a birds-eye view not only of a Catholic stronghold, but also towards the Bay of Nipes to the east, where, in 1615, the icon of the Virgin of Charity – now venerated in Holguin – was found floating after a storm. The event fomented a tradition of Marian devotion that saw the Virgin become patron of Cuba in 1916.
Though he would be uncomfortable at the comparison, Pope Francis has clearly been embraced with Caribbean passion by the people of Cuba as a significant element in its history and unwritten future. Cuba has, in Pope Francis, a new ‘icon’ for a new era.