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.c The Associated Press
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON
SANTIAGO, Cuba
(AP) - Over the past four days, Cuba has witnessed a delicate duel between two
figures from the Cold War still on stage. Each man, in his own way, is trying to
evangelize Cubans.
Fidel Castro is ever the gracious host, so solicitous toward his
distinguished guest that he claims to preach similar ideas.
Pope John Paul II is equally polite, making his points but softening his
rhetoric so as not to offend.
At stake are two visions of Cuban society: John Paul envisions a more open
and freer land where the Roman Catholic Church can play a major role in the life
of Cubans; Castro, at the least, wants to sustain an aging revolution.
There was Castro at the airport, welcoming the staunch anti-communist from
Poland and assuring him that "we feel the same way you do about many
important issues of today's world.''
At a private meeting at the Palace of the Revolution, Castro gently asked
John Paul about his health and enlisted him for a picture-taking session with
the Maximum Leader's two brothers and two sisters - the women described by the
Vatican as practicing Catholics.
And then Castro made a surprise appearance at the University of Havana, his
alma mater, when the pope came to speak of democracy and freedom to Cuban
intellectuals. The Vatican said the presence of Castro, who joined in the
applause, was "appreciated.''
John Paul was not without his own eloquent gestures. Twice - at the airport
when he arrived from Rome and at the university - he put his arm around the
shoulder of Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega. It was the pope's way of showing that
the archbishop was his man in Havana.
While the revolutionary government never broke relations with the Vatican,
it has had few contacts until recently with the Cuban church.
The week's duel actually began in Rome on Nov. 19, 1996, when Castro called
on John Paul at the Vatican and extended an invitation that before had been
impossible.
There had been talk of an earlier invitation, for a quick stop in Havana en
route home from a Latin American pilgrimage in the 1980s. But the idea was
rejected by the Vatican because at the time Cuba was closely aligned with the
Soviet Union.
The invitation carried a cost: more priests, more access in the media for
the church, even making Christmas a holiday.
For the pope, that was only the start. And if Castro had any doubts about
John Paul's intentions, they were clearly dispelled by John Paul's Christmas
message to Cubans.
"I hope that after my visit,'' John Paul wrote, "the church may
continue to have ever more liberty that is needed for its mission.''
The visit has certainly given Castro some of the recognition he had been
seeking, allowing him to bask in John Paul's presence.
John Paul's criticism of the U.S. economic embargo, in line with the
Vatican's general opposition to such measures, was also unquestionably welcomed.
But as the days went on, John Paul's intentions became clearer, summed up in
his homily Saturday before thousands in Santiago de Cuba.
True freedom, John Paul said, includes "recognition of human rights and
social justice'' and that change must come "through peaceful and gradual
means.''
He stressed that Catholics, locked out of power in the revolution, must
regain a voice on the island.
They "have the duty and the right to participate in public debate on
the basis of equality and in an attitude of dialogue and reconciliation.''
Castro had at least two more appearances with John Paul. He has announced
his planned attendance at Sunday's Mass in Havana's Revolutionary Square and
will get in his last public word during John Paul's departure ceremony.
AP-NY-01-24-98 1431EST |