The possibility of a visit to Havana at the end of the Pope’s trip to US cities – Philadelphia, Washington and New York - is being looked into.
Seventeen years after John Paul II’s historic visit to the island in January 1998 and Benedict XVI’s in March 2012, which was just as important, another Pope may be about to step foot on Cuban soil – the first South American Pope in the history of the Catholic Church. The Vatican is looking into the possibility of prolonging the Pope’s visit to the US next September, by one or two days in order to allow him to make a quick stop-over in Havana. After a decades-long “cold war”, the Caribbean island of Cuba is re-establishing diplomatic ties with Washington, partly thanks to Vatican mediation.
The news was revealed by American sources and was re-printed by the Wall Street Journal. Today, the director of the Holy See press office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, stated: "The Holy Father has taken into consideration the idea of carrying out a leg to Cuba on the occasion of his upcoming visit to the United States. However, contact with the authorities of the country is too much at an early stage to speak of this stop as a decision taken and of a project in operation.”
It is too early therefore to say whether the trip will go ahead. What is certain, is that Francis is thinking about it and contact has been established in order to make this additional stop possible. The Pope’s scheduled visit to the US will see him attending the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia as well as a joint session of the US Congress, meeting Barack Obama at the White House and addressing the United Nations.
In recent days, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, attended the seventh Summit of the Americas organised by the Organization of American States. The summit was held in Panama and attended by Obama and Raul Castro. Parolin read out a message from Francis which said: it pleases me to express my closeness and encouragement so that sincere dialogue will bring about mutual collaboration that unites efforts and overcomes differences in the path toward the common good.” “I pray to God that, through sharing common values, you arrive at commitments of collaboration in the national and regional environments that address the problems with realism and transmit hope,” the Pope added.
Next week, another close collaborator of the Pope’s will also be heading off to the Caribbean island: Cardinal Beniamino Stella, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, who was Apostolic Nuncio to Cuba from 1993 to 1999 and as such was directly involved in the preparations for John Paul II’s trip as well as contacts with the Cuban government which was then led by Fidel Castro. Cardinal Stella’s visit has a pastoral purpose linked to his new office and will include meetings with bishops, priests and seminarists.
