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Church bells announced pope's
death in Cuba
From Havana Bureau Chief
Lucia Newman. CNN,
Sunday, April 3, 2005.
HAVANA (CNN) -- Church bells rang out on
the Communist island of Cuba Saturday to
announce the death of Pope Paul II, the
only pontiff ever to visit the country.
He went there in January 1998.
The government of President Fidel Castro
announced a three-day period of official
mourning, banning all public festivities,
including baseball games.
Even though Catholicism is the main religion
in Cuba, no large crowds gathered in church
plazas to pray for the pope before or after
his death.
Perhaps that is because unlike in the rest
of the Western world, Cuba's state-controlled
media barely publicized that he was dying.
Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega broadcast a
statement that the pope was near death.
It was aired unceremoniously after the Sports
and Weather on Friday night's news.
There was no story on the pope in the Saturday
edition of Granma, Cuba's main Communist
Party newspaper.
Nevertheless, shortly after Pope John Paul
II's death was confirmed, Cuban Foreign
Minister Felipe Perez Roque expressed "the
people's and the government's deep sadness,"
and sent the State's "condolences to
all believers in Cuba and the world."
"We always considered and continue
to consider the Pope a friend, who fought
against poverty, neo-liberalism and for
peace. We will also always remember his
words against the U.S. economic embargo
that our people suffer," Roque said.
As Cubans learned of his death, they expressed
grief.
"He was almost a saint," a school
teacher told CNN.
Even non-believers praised the pontiff.
"He worked so hard for peace. He will
be greatly missed," according to a
construction worker who described himself
as an atheist.
Although little was said in the Cuban media
before John Paul II's death, Roque said
there will be full coverage of the pope's
funeral, which a representative of the Cuban
government will attend.
Cuba was officially an atheist country
until 1992, and, according to Human Rights
Watch, the pope's January 1998 visit ignited
hope that the government would allow greater
religious freedom.
While Cuba permits greater opportunities
for religious expression than in past years,
there are still restrictions.
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