Pope travels to Castro brothers' Cuban home region
Vatican spokesperson says the pope had a "very informal and friendly" conversation with Fidel
Photo released by Cuban website Cubadebate.cu of Cuban former president Fidel Castro (R) shaking hands with Pope Francis in Havana on September 20, 2015 PHOTO: AFP
HAVANA:
Pope Francis travels Monday to Holguin in eastern Cuba, a cradle of Catholic faith on the island and also the home region of communist leaders Fidel and Raul Castro.
Holguin is known for a cross that has overlooked the city from a hilltop since a Franciscan monk hauled it up there in 1790 -- though the original wooden version succumbed to old age and the 1950 replacement was destroyed by lightning.
Now made of concrete, the five-meter (16-foot) landmark has endured through centuries of hurricanes and years of tensions between the Church and the communist regime, which was officially atheist for more than three decades until 1992.
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Holguin is the only stop on the pope's eight-day, six-city tour of Cuba and the United States that has never received a papal visit.
Francis, who arrived on the island Saturday, will fly from Havana to Holguin early Monday and give a morning mass at a square named for Cuban independence hero Calixto Garcia. Some 150,000 people are expected.
He will then visit the hilltop cross to bless the city of 291,000 inhabitants, Cuba's fourth-largest.
Holguin is the capital of the province of the same name and the birthplace of the Castro brothers, who have ruled the Caribbean island since 1959.
According to legend, locals first saw a stature Cuba's patron saint, Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, floating in the Holguin bay 1612 after a storm.
After his seven-hour stop in Holguin, the pope takes off for Santiago, the country's second city -- dubbed "the heroic city" by the communist regime because Fidel Castro declared there on January 1, 1959 that his revolution had toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista.
The 78-year-old pope was visibly tired by the end of his packed itinerary Sunday, when he delivered mass to hundreds of thousands of people on Havana's Revolution Square, met both Castro brothers, gave an off-the-script speech to local clergy and then addressed a crowd of young Cubans -- all in the tropical heat.
Francis met Fidel Castro, 89, at his home in Havana, then held a closed-door meeting with Raul, 84, at the government's headquarters.
Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi said the pope had a "very informal and friendly" conversation with Fidel, who stepped down in 2006.
Francis gave the former Cuban leader four books, including two on theology.
Castro reciprocated with a copy of Brazilian priest Frei Betto's book of interviews with him, "Fidel and Religion."
Video of the meeting aired on Cuban state TV showed the men sitting and chatting, the visibly voluble Castro clad in a tracksuit -- his trademark in retirement.
Earlier, at his morning mass, three Cuban dissidents were arrested as they approached Francis shouting "Freedom!" when he arrived in his popemobile.
Read: US lawmaker to boycott Pope speech over climate change
An AFP photographer said the activists -- two men and a woman -- yelled anti-government slogans as plainclothes agents detained them when they tried to get near the pope.
The pontiff, who was busy grasping the outstretched hands of well-wishers on the other side of his vehicle, did not appear to notice.
Cuba bans opposition groups and routinely arrests dissidents who try to protest -- typically releasing them after a few hours, at least in recent years.
Several leading dissidents have criticized the pope for not accepting their requests to meet him during his visit.
Lombardi told journalists that Vatican officials had in fact been in contact with some dissidents, but that they had not managed to arrange a meeting.
The pope will leave from Santiago Tuesday for the United States, where his itinerary includes stops at the White House, the US Congress and the United Nations General Assembly.
The trip carries the added symbolic weight of the US-Cuban rapprochement that led the Cold War foes to restore diplomatic ties in July -- a reconciliation the pope helped bring about in secret meetings.
Pope Francis travels Monday to Holguin in eastern Cuba, a cradle of Catholic faith on the island and also the home region of communist leaders Fidel and Raul Castro.
Holguin is known for a cross that has overlooked the city from a hilltop since a Franciscan monk hauled it up there in 1790 -- though the original wooden version succumbed to old age and the 1950 replacement was destroyed by lightning.
Now made of concrete, the five-meter (16-foot) landmark has endured through centuries of hurricanes and years of tensions between the Church and the communist regime, which was officially atheist for more than three decades until 1992.
Read: Pope Francis puts up Syrian refugee family
Holguin is the only stop on the pope's eight-day, six-city tour of Cuba and the United States that has never received a papal visit.
Francis, who arrived on the island Saturday, will fly from Havana to Holguin early Monday and give a morning mass at a square named for Cuban independence hero Calixto Garcia. Some 150,000 people are expected.
He will then visit the hilltop cross to bless the city of 291,000 inhabitants, Cuba's fourth-largest.
Holguin is the capital of the province of the same name and the birthplace of the Castro brothers, who have ruled the Caribbean island since 1959.
According to legend, locals first saw a stature Cuba's patron saint, Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, floating in the Holguin bay 1612 after a storm.
After his seven-hour stop in Holguin, the pope takes off for Santiago, the country's second city -- dubbed "the heroic city" by the communist regime because Fidel Castro declared there on January 1, 1959 that his revolution had toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista.
The 78-year-old pope was visibly tired by the end of his packed itinerary Sunday, when he delivered mass to hundreds of thousands of people on Havana's Revolution Square, met both Castro brothers, gave an off-the-script speech to local clergy and then addressed a crowd of young Cubans -- all in the tropical heat.
Francis met Fidel Castro, 89, at his home in Havana, then held a closed-door meeting with Raul, 84, at the government's headquarters.
Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi said the pope had a "very informal and friendly" conversation with Fidel, who stepped down in 2006.
Francis gave the former Cuban leader four books, including two on theology.
Castro reciprocated with a copy of Brazilian priest Frei Betto's book of interviews with him, "Fidel and Religion."
Video of the meeting aired on Cuban state TV showed the men sitting and chatting, the visibly voluble Castro clad in a tracksuit -- his trademark in retirement.
Earlier, at his morning mass, three Cuban dissidents were arrested as they approached Francis shouting "Freedom!" when he arrived in his popemobile.
Read: US lawmaker to boycott Pope speech over climate change
An AFP photographer said the activists -- two men and a woman -- yelled anti-government slogans as plainclothes agents detained them when they tried to get near the pope.
The pontiff, who was busy grasping the outstretched hands of well-wishers on the other side of his vehicle, did not appear to notice.
Cuba bans opposition groups and routinely arrests dissidents who try to protest -- typically releasing them after a few hours, at least in recent years.
Several leading dissidents have criticized the pope for not accepting their requests to meet him during his visit.
Lombardi told journalists that Vatican officials had in fact been in contact with some dissidents, but that they had not managed to arrange a meeting.
The pope will leave from Santiago Tuesday for the United States, where his itinerary includes stops at the White House, the US Congress and the United Nations General Assembly.
The trip carries the added symbolic weight of the US-Cuban rapprochement that led the Cold War foes to restore diplomatic ties in July -- a reconciliation the pope helped bring about in secret meetings.