Posted on 02/22/2008 5:46:29 AM PST by NYer
Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (2nd R) blesses the crowd during Mass outside Havana's cathedral February 21, 2008. The Vatican hopes Bertone's visit will bring further improvement in the once strained relations with the government so that the Catholic Church can operate more freely in Cuba. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA)
The Vatican's No. 2 official hinted Thursday at a papal visit to Cuba, hours after Pope Benedict XVI said Roman Catholics on the communist-run island still face difficulties and distrust.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, was in Cuba to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's visit to this country — a visit that coincidentally began a day after Fidel Castro announced that he was going to step down as president.
Bertone said Thursday he hoped his visit to Cuba would give "a new push" to sometimes-strained relations between the communist government and the island's Roman Catholic Church.
Later Thursday, during an open-air Mass in a cobblestone courtyard outside the National Cathedral, Bertone said that Castro invited Benedict to the island in 2005.
When Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega said he hoped Bertone's visit would be a precursor to one by Benedict, a grinning Bertone said: "The Holy Father heard well with his own ears the invitation of Cuba's cardinal tonight. We hope that in the future the Holy Father can visit."
Bertone's comment drew a minute of sustained applause and shouts from the hundreds of faithful who filled plastic chairs and spilled out into nearby alleyways in Old Havana.
"We remember the feeling of glory that all of Cuba had when the pope, John Paul II, visited our little country," said Clara Martinez, a retired 57-year-old college professor, who said she attended a Mass John Paul gave in Havana's Revolution Plaza in 1998. "We can only imagine what it would be like to feel like that again."
Earlier, Benedict said in a message to Cuban bishops that in this communist-run country, "at times, some Christian communities feel overwhelmed by difficulties, by the lack of resources, indifference and even distrust, which can cause disillusionment."
Relations between the church and Cuba's government have often been strained. The single-party government never outlawed religion but expelled priests and closed religious schools after Castro's 1959 revolution.
Tensions eased in the early 1990s when the government removed references to atheism in the constitution. They warmed more with John Paul's 1998 visit, but even Bertone acknowledged they could use further improving.
During the Mass, Bertone repeated Catholic officials' long-held requests to ease government bans on religious schools and air some religious services and events on Cuban state television.
Bertone said the Cuban church "aspires to be ever more present and active ... carrying out its wide mission to teach, heal, assist the poor and promote the dignity of all human beings."
All seats were filled by foreign dignitaries and church officials, but many ordinary worshippers waited more than an hour to press against metal barriers far from the stage. The crowd locked arms and swayed while singing along with the choir. At one point, they began chanting "Viva Cristo!" or "Long live Christ!"
Bertone's six-day visit began a day after 81-year-old Fidel Castro announced he is permanently stepping down as president, clearing the way for the first new Cuban head-of-state in 49 years. His brother Raul, 76, is expected to be chosen as the new president when the parliament meets on Sunday.
Among those jockeying for position at the edge of the Mass were members of the "Women in White," activists who march every Sunday after attending Mass to demand freedom for their husbands and relatives who were arrested in a crackdown on government critics in 2003.
Laura Pollan, wife of political prisoner Hector Maseda, said that following John Paul's visit, Cuban authorities released 80 prisoners. She said she hoped Bertone's trip might lead to something similar.
"It's not going to be 80, but maybe 20 or 30," she said.
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