Pope meets with Fidel Castro, urges more freedom

c. 2012 Religion News Service
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI ended his three-day visit to Cuba on
Wednesday (March 28) with an appeal for more religious freedom for the
Catholic Church, ahead of a highly anticipated meeting with the island's
historic leader, Fidel Castro.

And while he stopped short of openly criticizing the island's communist
regime during the trip, Benedict nonetheless said Cuba needed "change" and a
"renewed and open society."

The pope celebrated Mass on Wednesday in Havana's Revolution Square for
about 300,000 people, according to the Vatican's top spokesman, the Rev.
Federico Lombardi.

Cuban President Raul Castro was in attendance and joined in the crowd's
applause when the pope entered the stage.

Benedict and Raul Castro had had a 40-minute private meeting on Tuesday
where, according to Lombardi, the pope asked Castro to consider making Good
Friday a national holiday and made some "humanitarian requests." No details
were given about the details of Benedict's requests.

On the plane that was flying him to his earlier stop in Mexico, Benedict
urged Cuba to look for "new models" beyond its "Marxist ideology," which he
said could no longer "respond to reality."

But during the Mass on Wednesday, Benedict only acknowledged that both
"Cuba and the world need change," adding that change would come only through
"love" and by "sowing reconciliation and fraternity."

Benedict's more strongly worded appeal on Monday to "build a renewed and
open society, a better society, one more worthy of humanity," was promptly
rebuked by Marino Murillo, a vice president in the Council of Ministers, who
told journalists on Tuesday that "political reform" was not on the agenda.

"We are talking about the update of the Cuban economic model to make our
socialism sustainable," he said of the country's steps towards opening some
economic sectors to private initiative.

At Wednesday's Mass, Benedict acknowledged Cuba's progress in granting the
Catholic Church greater freedom, but called on the government to allow the
church a wider role in society, especially in the "fields of knowledge."
The Cuban government doesn't allow the church to open schools or
universities.

Before leaving Cuba, the pope met for 30 minutes with the island's leader
Fidel Castro. Castro had stated his desire to meet for "a few minutes" with
the pontiff in a column published on the Internet.