Feliz Navidad, this once

Lo, a Christmas miracle: Fidel Castro, the grinch who declared Marxism and atheism Cuba's official religions in 1962 and Dec. 25 a workday in 1969, is bringing the holiday back. Well, at least just this year, in deference to Pope John Paul II's planned visit in January.

Make no mistake. In a state famous for its repression, any move that may allow ordinary Cubans more space to practice religion, even if for a day, is a blessing. It is our sincere wish that Cubans so inclined may freely join the billions worldwide celebrating the birth of Christ on Dec. 25. May they, so used to going without, enjoy access to long-scarce holiday treats, the traditional puerco asado and turron -- roast pork and nougat -- as we do in South Florida.

That said, consider the context. A prisoner in solitary confinement may feel quite grateful when his jailer lets him breathe fresh air once in a while, though his sentence remains harsh and unjust. No one should forget how Fidel continues systematically to repress the Cuban people. Token concessions do not a legitimate government make.

Bowing to a request from the pope, Castro announced Sunday that Dec. 25 would not be a work day this year. But other unresolved issues are causing tension only five weeks before the pope's visit. Among dozens of dignitaries invited by the Cuban Catholic Church,
mostly bishops and priests from Latin America and the United States, few have received travel authorization from Cuba, which earlier had pledged to facilitate 300 such visas.

Moreover, the Cuban government-controlled media has scarcely publicized the pope's visit, last week publishing only the eighth story on it since the trip was announced last year. There's no answer, either, on what will be broadcast to Cuban audiences during the pope's stay. While the Vatican wants its radio and television producers to manage broadcasts of Pope John Paul's four Masses, it has no assurance that Cuba will air them, much less live. So relations between the church and Cuba are reaching ``intolerable limits,'' a Vatican source told El Nuevo Herald's Pablo Alfonso.

None of this should surprise. Fidel allows no free access to mass media and harasses the independent press. In the 1960s he expelled scores of priests and sent uncounted others to ``re-education camps'' and jail. To this day, Cuba's churches cannot legally operate schools or soup kitchens or dispense medicines, though they do. Fidel, master of propaganda, wishes to manipulate the pope's visit into his own public-relations coup. A Christmas holiday, this one year, costs him little. Full and fundamental freedoms of religion and expression, however, would be too much of a miracle.