Pope will meet Mexican, Cuban presidents during visit in March

Pope Benedict XVI
Catholic News Service

Jan-3-2012

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI will meet with Cuban President Raul Castro, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and bishops and Catholics from the region when he visits Mexico and Cuba March 23-28.

He will also deliver a message to the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean as well as pray at the shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre in Cuba.

Vatican Radio released the pope's itinerary as detailed by the Mexican and Cuban bishops' conferences Jan. 2.

The pope will visit three cities in the state of Guanajuato in central Mexico; the Vatican spokesman had said Pope Benedict would not visit Mexico City because of the elevation -- 7,900 feet above sea level -- but the towns in Guanajuato are each about 5,900 feet above sea level.

In Cuba, he will make stops in Santiago de Cuba and the capital, Havana.

From Rome, the pope will arrive in Mexico March 23 at the airport in Leon, Guanajuato, where he will be received by President Calderon and Archbishop Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago of Leon.

During his four-day stay in Mexico, the pope will be staying at the Miraflores College in Leon, an institute run by religious sisters.

The pope will meet government officials and President Calderon March 24 at the Guanajuato state government house of Conde Rul. Later he will greet and bless those gathered at Peace Square.

He will celebrate Mass March 25 in Silao's Bicentennial Park, which is at the foot of the Cerro del Cubilete hill and its 67-foot-tall monument of Cristo Rey. Representatives of the 91 dioceses of Mexico will be present at the Mass.

Later in the day, the pope will celebrate evening prayer in Leon's cathedral and deliver a message for all the bishops of Mexico and the representatives of bishops' conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The pope will leave Mexico March 26 for Cuba, where he will be welcomed at the Santiago de Cuba airport by President Castro, Archbishop Dionisio Guillermo Garcia Ibanez of Santiago de Cuba and representatives of the Cuban bishops' conference.

The pope will celebrate Mass in Antonio Maceo Revolution Square later that day. He will stay at a priests' residence in El Cobre.

The pope will make a private visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre March 27.

Afterward, he will head to the airport and fly to Havana where he will be welcomed by Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino of Havana, bishops and religious, government and civil leaders.

The pope will have an official meeting with President Castro and will meet with Cuban bishops at the apostolic nunciature, where the pope will be staying.

The pope will celebrate Mass March 28 in Jose Marti Revolution Square and leave later that day for Rome.

Pope confirms plans to visit Mexico, Cuba

By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN

Updated 12:07 AM EST, Tue December 13, 2011

(CNN) -- Pope Benedict XVI confirmed plans Monday to visit Mexico and Cuba before Easter.

"I have the intention to undertake an apostolic voyage to Mexico and Cuba before Easter, to proclaim there the word of Christ and affirm the conviction that this is a precious time to evangelize with a steady faith, a living hope and an ardent charity," the pontiff said, speaking Spanish in a Vatican homily honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The announcement drew applause from throngs of worshipers at St. Peter's Basilica.

Roman Catholic Church officials in Cuba and Mexico have spoken since November about a possible papal visit, but Monday's remarks were the first public comments the pope has made about his plans.

Monday's Vatican Mass honored the virgin of Guadalupe, one of the most revered figures of Roman Catholicism in Mexico.

According to the Catholic faith, this year marks the 480th anniversary of the virgin's appearance on Tepeyac Hill, on the outskirts of what is now Mexico City.

Millions of pilgrims flock to the Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadalupe in Mexico City every year for the celebration honoring her, which culminates December 12.

In his homily Monday, the pope said that many Latin American countries were celebrating the bicentennials of their independence and noted that they were playing an increasingly important role on the world stage.

He referred to Latin American and Caribbean bishops' 2007 announcement of a "continental mission" to spread the Gospel in the region.

"From my responsibility to confirm the faith, I also want to encourage apostolic zeal," he said.

CNN's Hada Messia and Krupskaia Alis contributed to this report.

Church confirms pope to visit Cuba in spring

Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faifthful in Rome,
Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011.(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
By ANNE-MARIE GARCIA, Associated Press – 21 minutes ago

HAVANA (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI will visit Cuba this spring, a senior Roman Catholic Church official said Thursday.

"On Monday Dec. 12 the Holy Father will make public the date of the visit and the schedule," said Monsignor Jose Felix Perez, executive secretary of the Cuban Bishops Conference.

"It will be a moment for energizing the faith in Cuba. It will give strength and vigor to the faith in Cuba," Perez said. "The visit should be one of peace and reconciliation."

The cleric said Benedict's trip would be a continuation of the historic visit in 1998 by Pope John Paul II that helped ease decades of tensions between the Vatican and Cuba under Fidel Castro, although the two never severed ties.

Cuba had removed references to atheism from the constitution and allowed believers of all faiths to join the Communist Party earlier in the 1990s.

Vatican officials have said the pope also is likely to visit Brazil and Mexico.

Pope Benedict XVI to Visit Cuba

Photo: AFP, Gabriel Bouys
(AFP) November 10, 2011

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI is planning to visit Cuba and Mexico in the spring of 2012, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said on Thursday, adding that Cuba "wanted to see the pope very much."

"The nuncios of Mexico and Cuba have been charged in recent days with informing the highest religious and political leaders in the two countries that the pope is examining a concrete project to visit," he said in a statement.

Cuba "is a country that wanted to see the pope very much. It has never forgotten John Paul II's historic visit" in 1998, he said.

"The pope's visit will be a great encouragement, particularly on the 400-year anniversary of the Virgin of Charity," the patron saint of Cuba.

"The Church and the whole population are living through an important moment in their history" he added.

Lombardi said the 84-year-old pope had been advised not to travel to parts of Mexico because of the altitude but said he would probably visit the capital.

The pope visited Brazil in May 2007 for a conference of Latin American and Caribbean bishops.