By Serge F. Kovaleski
Wednesday, October 15,
1997
The Washington Post
HAVANA, Oct. 14—The Cuban government views Pope John Paul II's visit here in January as an opportunity to generate more international condemnation of the U.S. economic embargo and to vilify the anti-Castro Cubans in Miami who support it.
The government of President Fidel Castro has been working vigorously to ensure that the papal trip will be a public relations success, as well as a financial one, for Cuba, which is grappling with an economic crisis that has resulted in part from the 34-year-old embargo and the Helms-Burton Act that has tightened and broadened it.
The potential payoff for Castro stems from the fact that the pontiff has spoken out against U.S. efforts to squeeze Cuba economically, saying that the pressure has brought undue hardship to many ordinary Cubans. During a news conference here Monday, Caridad Diego, chief of the Communist Party's Office for Religious Affairs, said the visit is "a way to show that the pope does not approve of the policies of isolating us."
At the same time, the Roman Catholic Church, which also has denounced the U.S.-sponsored sanctions, is hoping the pontiff's presence will increase the Church's following and encourage those who have been apprehensive about expressing faith to come forward in a nation that was officially atheist for more than three decades.
"A lot of people have faith, but that faith has been dormant for a long time. Now, hopefully, they will wake up," said the Rev. Jorge Machin, of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Havana. "There are some people who still have fear about expressing their religious sentiment. But now they might step up."
The Catholic Church is not as powerful a force in Cuba as in other Latin American countries. Church officials estimate that about half the island's 11.2 million people identify with Roman Catholicism and may participate in some form of worship.
Catholicism was repressed between the early 1960s and 1992, according to experts. The government's position reflected lingering anger with a Church hierarchy that had largely identified with Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista during the guerrilla war that led to Castro's takeover in 1959.
Believers were barred from the ruling Communist Party, the military and a number of professions. Priests were persecuted, and some were expelled. Catholic families sought to educate their children abroad; the state interfered with religious ceremonies; and Church property was vandalized.
The government's attitude toward religious freedom has softened over the years, but is still ambivalent toward the organized Church. In 1992, as attendance in churches grew and the country's economic situation worsened with the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, Cuba amended its constitution and defined itself as a secular, rather than a Marxist state. It also declared that religious believers could join the party.
The shift in church-state relations was symbolized most powerfully when Castro met with the pope at the Vatican in November last year and the two leaders decided the pontiff would visit the country. Cuba is the only Spanish-speaking nation in Latin America that the pope has yet to visit.
As the buildup toward his Jan. 21-25 appearance here intensifies, the government has granted the Church's request to conduct 13 outdoor Masses around the country. But on Sunday, officials blocked Cardinal Jaime Ortega from holding one of those services and also blocked a planned public procession in Bejucal, near Havana. The cardinal and hundreds of followers attended Mass inside a church.
"The freedom to express yourself, including your religious feelings, is still not very real here. There are limitations, but maybe the pope's presence can nudge us ahead, even a little" said Armando de Jesus, 41, a practicing Catholic who works as a waiter. "But I am not getting my hopes up. After he leaves and everything calms down, things may just be the same, like nothing ever happened."
With the pope's visit likely to draw large numbers of people, authorities have been careful in planning for the event to safeguard against provocations by dissidents. Consequently, Diego said, the government has not yet decided whether to permit a cruise ship carrying Catholic pilgrims to come from Miami to Havana.
The Catholic archdiocese of Miami, where anti-Castro and anti-communist fervor runs high among Cuban exiles, announced plans this month to sponsor a cruise ship to Cuba on a two-day pilgrimage. But Diego said some exiles made it clear that they want to come to support "dissidents and counterrevolutionaries."
"The Catholic Church is perceived by some as a counterrevolutionary force," said Machin, of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. "I don't think some people in the party like the visit because there are some organizations, human rights groups and dissidents, who may try to take advantage of this."
Overall, Diego said, the relationship between the Church and the government has evolved positively over the years, and a mutual spirit of dialogue has developed. In fact, she said, the state and the Church share some values, including ethical behavior and solidarity.
But Church leaders expressed hope that the pope's visit would encourage the state to become more accepting of religious freedom.
"It is hoped that there will be even more of an opening for Church dialogue," said the Rev. Jose Augustine of San Jose Church. "The dialogue exists, but we would like to see it become broader."
© Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company