In Cuba, Pope emphasizes service to the vulnerable, praises thaw in US-Cuban relations
September 21, 2015
Pope Francis arrived in Havana on the afternoon of September 19, the first day of a ten-day apostolic journey to Cuba, the United States, and United Nations headquarters.
It is the Pope’s tenth apostolic journey outside Italy.
“Providence today enables me to come to this beloved nation, following the indelible path opened by the unforgettable apostolic journeys which my two predecessors, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, made to this island,” the Pontiff said at the airport welcoming ceremony.
“I know that the memory of those visits awakens gratitude and affection in the people and leaders of Cuba,” he continued. “Today we renew those bonds of cooperation and friendship, so that the Church can continue to support and encourage the Cuban people in its hopes and concerns, with the freedom and all the means needed to bring the proclamation of the Kingdom to the existential peripheries of society.”
The Pope also emphasized the importance of devotion to Our Lady of Charity, the patroness of Cuba, and spoke about “an event which fills us with hope: the process of normalizing relations between two peoples following years of estrangement.”
“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. “The world needs reconciliation in this climate of a piecemeal third word war in which we are living.”
The next morning, Pope Francis celebrated Sunday Mass at the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana and preached on the day’s Gospel reading (Mk. 9:30-37).
“The disciples were arguing about who would have the highest place, who would be chosen for privileges, who would be above the common law, the general norm, in order to stand out in the quest for superiority over others-- who would climb the ladder most quickly to take the jobs which carry certain benefits,” he said.
“Jesus upsets their ‘logic,’ their mindset, simply by telling them that life is lived authentically in a concrete commitment to our neighbor,” he continued. “Serving others chiefly means caring for their vulnerability, caring for the vulnerable of our families, our society, our people. Theirs are the suffering, fragile and downcast faces which Jesus tells us specifically to look at and which he asks us to love.”
At the conclusion of Sunday Mass, Pope Francis led the recitation of the Angelus. The Pontiff prayed for peace in Colombia and spoke of the cross:
We have heard in the Gospel how the disciples were afraid to question Jesus when he spoke to them about his passion and death. He frightened them, and they could not grasp the idea of seeing Jesus suffer on the cross. We too are tempted to flee from our own crosses and those of others, to withdraw from those who suffer. In concluding this Holy Mass, in which Jesus has once more given himself to us in his Body and Blood, let us now lift our gaze to the Virgin Mary, our Mother. We ask her to teach us to stand beside the cross of our brothers and sisters who suffer.
The Pope then visited the home of Fidel Castro, who ruled Cuba from 1959 to 2008. The two spoke for half an hour, and the Pope gave him copies of his encyclicals as well as books by Fathers Alessandro Pronzato and Segundo Llorente, the latter a Jesuit missionary in Alaska.
On Sunday afternoon, Pope Francis paid a courtesy visit to President Raúl Castro and his cabinet ministers. The Pontiff gave Castro a mosaic of Our Lady of Charity, and Castro gave his guest a wooden crucifix.
Celebrating Vespers at Havana’s cathedral, Pope Francis set aside his prepared homily, which was devoted to unity, to exhort the priests, religious, and seminarians present to be a “poor Church” and “never tire of showing mercy.”
Following Vespers, Pope Francis spoke to thousands of Cuban youth and again departed from his prepared text, which was devoted to “the hope born of faith in Christ.”
Instead, “the Pope spoke off the cuff, encouraging them to keep alive their dreams and to focus on the things that unite, rather than the things which divide them,” according to a Vatican Radio report. “The Pope also spoke about the problem of youth unemployment and the need for young people to create a culture of encounter, urging the students to keep their hearts and minds open, rather than being closed in on themselves.”
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Further information:
- Apostolic Journey of the Holy Father to Cuba, to the United States of America and Visit to the United Nations Headquarters (19-28 September 2015) (Holy See Press Office)
- Pope in Cuba and USA (Vatican Radio)
- Vatican YouTube coverage
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