Image of Jesus stuns Havana

Herald Staff Report

HAVANA -- Cars slowed or stopped. Drivers got out to gawk. Startled cyclists halted their Chinese bikes and stared.

Havana's Revolution Plaza has been transformed by a vivid eight-story-high painting of Jesus. It is a startling sight -- perhaps more striking to Cubans than any other preparations for the arrival this afternoon of Pope John Paul II.

Until six years ago, atheism was the creed of President Fidel Castro's Cuba. And many Cubans can barely contain their astonishment at the sight of the huge image of Jesus at the city's principal crossroads.

``I've never seen that [image] outside of a church,'' said Caridad Rodriguez, a 48-year-old economist. ``We are astonished. We are happy.''

Through much of Havana, banners flapped with John Paul II's image. By standards of many other countries receiving a papal visit, public adornments are minimal. By Cuban standards they are epic.

Small posters of John Paul II are wrapped around power poles, stuck on doors, hung behind windows, or displayed on the back of trucks, buses and three-wheel cycle taxis. In some cases, young Roman Catholics were putting them up; in other cases, youngsters who said they were members of Communist youth groups said they had been told to hand out the posters.

Nothing, however, prepared Cubans for the sight of the huge image of Jesus erected since Sunday in the sprawling Revolution Plaza.

The bright bluish-green and red image adorns most of the side of the towering National Library. The image is even larger than the metal silhouette of Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara, the revolutionary icon, that graces the facade of the nearby Interior Ministry.

``Never in my life did I expect to see a Sacred Heart of Jesus in public in my country,'' said a chagrined Communist, who gave her name only as Mirta.

``I have not felt an emotion like this since the days of my boyhood,'' said 64-year-old Arturo Cruz, who said he was a retired education official. ``That is when I was an altar boy.''

Then he joined the revolution, he said, and his Catholic upbringing was forgotten.

Reverie in the plaza

Magalys Moracen looked lost in reverie as she crossed the asphalted plaza, where John Paul II will offer a Mass on Sunday, the final day of his visit, perhaps to more than a million Cubans.

``I'm an evangelical. I was meditating on [the Jesus image] when you approached,'' she said. ``I was wondering if they will leave it up after the pope goes. What do you think?''

That seems unlikely. Cuba is still Cuba. But millions -- Catholics and atheists alike -- will attend papal events this week. Castro last Friday described John Paul II as ``a noble man'' and said it was a duty of Cubans to give him a huge reception. The Labor Ministry decreed that all workers who attend Masses or the papal welcoming ceremony will not have their pay docked.

``The commander in chief was the first one to exhort the masses to receive the pope,'' said Idelfonsa Menendez, a loyal fidelista who said she would help greet John Paul II.

By the pope's 4 p.m. arrival today, tens of thousands of Cubans will line the route from the airport to the papal nuncio's residence, the Vatican's embassy in the Miramar district of Havana, where the pontiff will spend the night. Cuban national television and radio will broadcast the arrival live throughout the island.

Multitudes will be waiting

Throngs will greet the pontiff at Masses in Santa Clara, Camaguey and Santiago de Cuba before Sunday's huge Mass in Havana, a city of 2.5 million.

``We haven't seen anything like this since [Mikhail] Gorbachev came,'' said a taxi driver, who gave his name as Orlando, referring to a visit by the former Soviet leader in the late 1980s.

Banners in yellow and white -- the papal colors -- hung from lampposts along Boyeros Avenue, the principal route from the airport.

The pontiff won't miss the propaganda of Castro's 39-year-old Communist regime, though. At nearly every corner, billboards extol the revolution. ``Socialism or death,'' says one. ``In every neighborhood -- Revolution,'' touts another. ``The Party is immortal,'' says a third.

Many faithful Catholics, who endured reproach and even ostracism during the early years under Castro, sneered at the prospect of so many professed atheists attending the papal services. But the Rev. Marciano Garcia, of Vedado's El Carmelo parish, said the Cuban church is content that so many Cubans will hear the pontiff's message.

``A lot of people will be moved by this visit, even some who didn't expect to be affected,'' he said.

Grateful for improvements

A smattering of Cubans voiced little interest in the visit -- but said they are grateful for the slight improvements the government has mustered these days to put its best foot forward for the pope, and the 1,800 or so journalists that officials say have already arrived to cover the visit.

At no time in recent memory have so many foreign journalists converged on Cuba.

``I've never seen so many journalists,'' said Zailen Cabrera, 24, as she gazed out over the seawall along Havana's waterfront.

Church officials scrambled to put the finishing touches on the papal visit, saying that preparations were going well and that church work crews had faced few difficulties.

``These days, it is as if a white flag has gone up saying anyone can do anything they want,'' the Rev. Garcia said. His own parish deployed a car with loudspeakers to work up enthusiasm for the visit.

In an arrangement with the government, the church has designated 50 points around Havana where Catholics can get free rides on government buses to Sunday's Mass at the plaza.

A 63-year-old widow who said she had remained a faithful Catholic through the years of communism said she had been told she would get a free ticket for the bus ride.

She shook her head: ``All these years they made us crawl or silenced us,'' she muttered. ``Now they're giving us rides to hear the man they said was the enemy of the revolution. If you want to think that is a miracle, that's all right.''