Reuters January 28, 1998
POPE HOPES FOR POLISH-STYLE CHANGE IN CUBA
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul said Wednesday he hopes his recent
visit to Cuba will bear fruit similar to his 1979 trip to Poland when he
helped influence events that led to the fall of communism in his homeland.
"My visit to Cuba reminded me a lot of my first visit to Poland in
1979," the Pope, speaking in Polish, said at his weekly general audience.
"I hope for my brothers and sisters on that beautiful island that the
fruits of this pilgrimage will be similar to the fruits of that pilgrimage to
Poland," he added.
Historians credit the Pope's first visit home a year after his election
in 1978 with injecting Poles with the courage to form the Solidarity free
trade union. Nine years later, it was the Pope's homeland that began the
domino effect that toppled communism in Eastern Europe.
During the historic five-day trip, which ended Sunday, the Pope
brought an unprecedented whiff of freedom to Cuba.
He defended human rights, criticized Cuba's one-party system,
called for greater freedom for the Catholic Church and drew attention to
the plight of political prisoners.
In his main address, read in Italian, he said the trip was a "great
event" of spiritual, cultural and social reconciliation.
The Pope also said the trip showed that the island's culture had
remained at heart Christian despite four decades of Marxism.
"The pastoral visit was a great event of spiritual, cultural and social
reconciliation that will not fail to produce beneficial fruits on other levels,"
the 77-year-old Pope said.
"It must be recognized that this visit took on an important symbolic
value because of the unique position Cuba has had in this century's
history," he said.
The Pontiff also several times condemned the U.S. economic
embargo against the island but said Cubans could not blame it for all their
problems.
He told the pilgrims he was happy to have been able to preach the
Gospel there, giving Cubans "a message of love and true freedom," and
thanked President Fidel Castro for making the trip possible.
Recalling his address at Havana University, the Pope said Cuban
culture had undergone many influences in the five centuries since
Christopher Columbus discovered it, including four decades of "Marxist
materialistic and atheist ideology."
"Deep down, however, it (Cuban culture)...has remained intimately
marked by Christian inspiration, as shown by the numerous men of Catholic
culture throughout its history," he said. "The Papal visit gave voice to the
Christian soul of the Cuban people."
"I am convinced that this Christian soul is for Cubans the most
precious treasure and the surest guarantee of integral development marked
by authentic freedom and peace," he said.
Hundreds of thousands of Cubans attended the Pope's four open-air
Masses, which were transmitted live on state-run television -- a first for
religious events.
