Yahoo – AFP, Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere, 10 May 2015
Vatican City (AFP) - Cuban President Raul Castro met with Pope Francis at the Vatican Sunday, thanking the pontiff for his role in brokering an historic rapprochement between Havana and Washington, a papal spokesman said.
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Cuban
president Raul Castro (R) pictured with Pope Francis after their
private
audience at the Vatican on May 10, 2015 (AFP Photo/Vincenzo Pinto)
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Vatican City (AFP) - Cuban President Raul Castro met with Pope Francis at the Vatican Sunday, thanking the pontiff for his role in brokering an historic rapprochement between Havana and Washington, a papal spokesman said.
"Raul
Castro thanked the Pope for his mediation between Cuba and the United
States," said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi of the exchange that
also focused on Francis' upcoming visit to Cuba.
 |
Cuba's
President Raul Castro (L)during a
meeting with US President Barack Obama
on the
sidelines of the Summit of the
Americas at the ATLAPA Convention
center in
Panama City on April 11,
2015 (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)
|
During the
meeting Castro offered the pontiff a painting by Cuban artist Kcho inspired by
the plight of illegal immigrants stranded at sea -- a subject close to the
pope's heart.
Francis in
turn presented Castro a medal of Saint Martin de Tours, a French saint
celebrated for having given his coat to a beggar, and urged others to
"clothe and support the poor."
Castro, who
was accompanied by his Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, held a
private hour-long meeting with the pontiff in a small room adjoining the Paul
VI Audience Hall, where large gatherings are held in the Vatican.
View
galleryCuba's President Raul Castro (L)during a
meeting …
Cuba's
President Raul Castro (L)during a meeting with US President Barack Obama on the
sidelines …
Their
discussions, conducted in Spanish, were described by the Vatican as "very
cordial".
Castro a
Francis fan
Castro said
he was "very struck" by the Catholic leader's "modesty and
wisdom" and promised to attend all the masses given by Francis on his Cuba
visit in September.
"I
read all the Holy Father's speeches," Castro said, adding that if the pope
"continues to speak in this way, one day I will start praying again and
return to the Catholic Church. And I'm not saying that as a joke."
 |
Picture
released by the Vatican Press
Office shows Pope Benedict XVI with
Cuban leader
Fidel Castro (R) during a
meeting in Havana on March 28,
2012 (AFP Photo)
|
Pope
Francis arrived ten minutes ahead of Castro.
A dozen
uniformed Swiss Guards stood to attention in front of the building when the
limousine bearing the Cuban flag arrived.
The Holy
See has revealed the Argentine pope personally mediated between the US and
Cuba, and that the Vatican hosted delegations from the two countries in
October.
The Vatican
announced last month that Pope Francis would visit the Caribbean island in
September, becoming only the third pontiff to do so after John Paul II in 1998
and Benedict XVI in 2012.
Jorge
Bergoglio, then auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires and now Pope Francis,
accompanied John Paul II on the first papal visit to Cuba, during which John
Paul II called for Havana to be brought in from the cold.
"Let Cuba
open itself to the world, and let the world open itself to Cuba," he
urged, two years after hosting Castro's ailing older brother Fidel for talks at
the Vatican.
From Cuba,
Francis will continue on to the US for a meeting with President Barack Obama.
 |
Cuban
president Fidel Castro (R) listens to
pope John Paul II on the tarmac of the
Jose Marti International Airport in Havana
January 21, 1998 (AFP Photo/Michel
Gangne)
|
He was to
meet Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Rome later on Sunday.
The
Catholic Church has consistently backed calls for the lifting of the US trade
embargo against Cuba, while staunchly supporting Cuban Catholics and pressuring
Havana to release political prisoners, many of whom are Catholic activists.
The Vatican
has also kept its distance from Cuban exiles based in Miami, Florida, who have
long clamoured for Havana's Marxist regime to be ousted.
When the
now retired Benedict XVI visited Cuba in 2012, he had lengthy, warm talks with
Fidel Castro, who is now 88.
The
Vatican's mediation between Cuba and the US administration was a diplomatic
success for the Holy See and had a considerable impact in mainly Catholic Latin
America.
Other
diplomatic efforts have been less successful, including a bid to help resolve
the political crisis in Venezuela and a longstanding drive to encourage
reconciliation between the Colombian government and guerrilla movements in that
country.
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