Pope John Paul II visited Cuba 21-25 January 1998. It was truly historic - a towering figure of the 20th century meets one of the world's most famous atheists. It was the first time a pope has ever visited the island nation and the first time he was welcome since revolutionary icon Fidel Castro rose to power in the Communist Revolution of 1959. Castro shed his army fatigues for a suit and tie to greet the pope at Havana's airport and John Paul uttered the now-famous words: "May Cuba, with all its magnificent potential, open itself up to the world, and may the world open itself up to Cuba."
14 years later, on 28th March 2012, Pope Benedict XVI, 84, the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, met with Fidel Castro, now 85, after celebrating an open-air Mass for 300,000 people in Havana's Revolution Square, the same place where Castro used to fill with big crowds and fiery revolutionary rhetoric in hours-long speeches. Cuba's single-party, Communist government never outlawed religion, but it expelled priests and closed religious schools upon Fidel Castro's takeover of Cuba in 1959.
No comments:
Post a Comment