Mexico's Roman Catholic Church has provided its Cuban counterpart with substantial material, financial and human assistance in recent months, in preparation for Pope John Paul II's visit to the island, Jan. 21-25, according to a Mexican church official.

The aid is rendered because ``we in Mexico feel that the pope is visiting us, as he travels through Cuba,'' said Jose Luis Garcia of the Mexican Bishops' Conference.

Half the money contributed to the conference by Mexican dioceses will be sent this year to the Catholic Church of Cuba, he added. He did not specify a figure.

And on Monday, all Mexican dioceses instituted a series of prayer services called ``For Truth and Hope in Cuba.'' The campaign will end after the pontiff leaves Cuba, Garcia said.

Garcia, whose office deals with everything related to the pope's January trip, said the material aid to Cuba includes ``about a million copies of catechisms, the New Testament and complete Bibles,'' as well as a large number of T-shirts with slogans dealing with the papal visit, balloons of red, white and blue for Cuba and yellow for the Vatican, and thousands of calendars with the image of the pope.

``It's a way for Mexican Catholics to support their brothers on the island, prompted by our common faith and the spirit of solidarity that compels us to share responsibilities with the Catholic churches in the region,'' Garcia said.

Most of the supplies came from private businesses, which chose to remain anonymous, and from Mexican lay people, he said.

``This aid is not limited to the church's institutional structure and hierarchy but also has a broad base of support among the faithful in general,'' Garcia said.