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01:35 a.m. Jan 23, 1998 Eastern
By Philip Pullella
SANTA CLARA,
Cuba, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Pope John Paul lost no time on Thursday in attacking
Cuba's relaxed attitudes to abortion and teenage sex while also sharply
criticizing the communist island's vaunted state education system.
The Pontiff, who arrived Wednesday for a landmark five-day visit, flew 180
miles (250 km) east of Havana on Thursday to celebrate an outdoor Mass in the
central city of Santa Clara.
A crowd of about 50,000 gathered before an altar in the shape of a thatched
hut, waving Cuban flags and cheering when the frail 77-year-old Pontiff arrived
in his Popemobile.
The Pope's first homily of his five-day visit, in the town where
revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che'' Guevara's remains are buried, signaled he
would have no qualms about criticizing Cuba's society or politics.
In an address that centered on family values, he lamented what he called "an
acceptance of abortion, which is always, in addition to being an abominable
crime, a senseless impoverishment of the person and of society itself.''
The Pontiff noted Cuba's economic crisis since the early 1990s, saying this
had created difficulties for family stability including "dissatisfaction
for ideological reasons'' and had intensified the problem of people emigrating.
But his strongest criticism was reserved for the educational system.
Without naming them, he referred to the island's rural boarding schools,
which almost all Cuban adolescents are obliged to attend from age 14.
The Pope said they often caused "traumatic'' separation between parents
and children. Such experiences put young people in situations that resulted in "the
spread of promiscuous behavior, loss of ethical values, coarseness, premarital
sexual relations at an early age and easy recourse to abortion.''
"All this has a profoundly negative impact on young people,'' the Pope
said. His comments struck right at the heart of one of aspects of the Cuban
revolution of which the government is most proud—its free and universal
education.
In his welcoming speech for the Pope on Wednesday, Castro listed education
as one of the main achievements of the Cuban revolution, telling John Paul he
would be hard-pressed to find another country where they were fewer children
without schooling.
The rural schools are dreaded by some parents, who would prefer to keep
their offspring under their control for a few more years and complain that the
relaxed co-ed environment leads to early and casual sex, and to unwanted teenage
pregnancies.
Official figures show there were some 83,827 abortions for 140,276 births in
Cuba in 1996 -- one of the highest rates in the world.
The Pope also openly urged a liberalization of education to allow a place
for religion in Cuba, where all Church schools were nationalized in the early
1960s.
"Do not be afraid; open your families and schools to the values of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ which are never a threat to any social project,'' he
said.
"Parents...should be able to choose for their children the pedagogical
method, the ethical and civic content and the religious inspiration which will
enable them to receive an integral education,'' he said.
The Pope's outspoken attack in a nationally televised Mass was all the more
extraordinary in a country where all media is state controlled and where
criticism is usually confined to Cubans grumbling in their homes, or to
dissidents.
It reflected the risk President Fidel Castro has taken by inviting him to
visit.
The veteran Cuban leader has said the papal visit presents no threat to the
revolution, stressing the points on which he and the Pontiff agree and urging a
warm welcome for him.
In a last-minute decision, authorities broadcast the first Mass live on one
of Cuba's state television channels, rather than only on a local station as
previously announced.
Before the Pope reached the Mass site in Santa Clara, the crowd, led by a
priest, chanted rhyming slogans including: "John Paul our brother, Cubans
love you...Long live the Pope...You can hear it , you can feel it, John Paul is
present.''
Above the Mass site, a huge portrait of the Pope was erected on a hill where
Che's guerrilla forces launched their attack to seize the city in December 1958,
a key victory in the revolution that swept Castro to power.
As a choir sang, the faithful waved small flags in the Papal colors of gold
and white and the red, blue and white of Cuba.
In the early years of the Cuban revolution, Catholics were discriminated
against for practising their faith but the Church's relations with Castro's
government have improved steadily in recent years and the Pope's visit has
sparked a surge in church attendance.
The Pontiff was flying back to Havana after the Mass and was due to meet
Castro for private talks later in the day. REUTERS |