The Archdiocese of Miami has chartered a plane to fly up to 180 people to Havana for a one-day pilgrimage to hear Pope John Paul II celebrate an outdoor Mass on Jan. 25.

Archbishop John C. Favalora will lead the religious pilgrimage, which costs $250 per person and will be on the ground in Havana for about nine hours.

``We're not going for any reason except as a religious pilgrimage,'' the Rev. Patrick O'Neill, the priest who is organizing the flight, said Monday. ``These are our sister and brother Catholics in Cuba and our spiritual leader the pope is visiting them.

``It's the most natural thing in the world we're doing,'' O'Neill said. ``If the pope was visiting in St. Petersburg, we'd be going there.''

People who want to join the pilgrimage to Cuba must contact O'Neill at the archdiocesan headquarters in Miami Shores immediately and file a visa application with the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., he said. The application for a visa to travel to Cuba must arrive at the Interests Section no later than Friday, O'Neill said.

``This is urgent only because of the number of days it takes to get a visa,'' O'Neill said. ``If someone is interested in this one-day trip, they would have to make the decision immediately.''

The archdiocese arranged the flight hastily after the archbishop last month canceled a larger, longer pilgrimage to Cuba via cruise ship during the pope's historic visit to the island late this month. The ship would have accommodated more than 1,000 people, but only about 400 had booked passage when the archbishop canceled the cruise.

The flight will have room for between 170 and 180 on board, O'Neill said.

Church officials had said repeatedly for months that the pilgrimage by cruise would be purely spiritual in nature -- designed to support the pope and the burgeoning Roman Catholic Church in Cuba -- but some Cuban exiles objected to it on political grounds. The ship was a symbol of frivolity and luxury that Cuban President Fidel Castro might exploit for political gain, critics said.

Cruise critics' backing

On Monday some of the most vocal critics of the cruise, including prominent businessmen who successfully lobbied Favalora to cancel it, said they supported his plans for a smaller pilgrimage by plane, but they won't join it.

``This is not a big thing, it is a one-day affair, it is very limited and it doesn't have the symbolism that the cruise ship had,'' said Carlos Saladrigas, president of the board and chief operating officer of The Vincam Group. ``The few people that want to go, that's fine. . . . It doesn't have the same impact or even the same character as the cruise ship had.''

Cuban Catholic attorney Rafael Peñalver, who helped spearhead opposition to the cruise, agreed that the smaller flight is much less likely to offend exiles. ``I respect everyone who goes on that trip,'' Peñalver said. ``I am praying for the success of their journey and I hope that this helps bring peace and freedom to Cuba.''

``I have decided that by going I would be legitimizing Castro and extending the suffering of the Cuban people,'' he said. ``But I respect those who come to a different decision.''

But not everyone was pleased with the archbishop's new travel plans.

Not rushing

Elly Chovel, a Coral Gables real estate agent, had purchased a ticket for the cruise, but doesn't expect to take the flight. She hasn't returned to Cuba since she left as a child and doesn't want to make a rushed homecoming, she said. Instead, she's looking into traveling to Cuba with Catholic pilgrims from elsewhere in the country who are planning several-day stays on the island.

``I know that politically speaking, people might be more accepting of the one-day trip,'' she said. ``But I'm not sure emotionally I can do that. Since I have never been back, it's going to be overwhelming to be there.''

The Archdiocese of Miami's pilgrimage by plane will leave Miami at 6 a.m. January 25 and arrive in Havana at 7 a.m., in time for pilgrims to attend the pope's outdoor Mass at 9:30 a.m, according to O'Neill. The return flight will leave Havana about 4 p.m.

The archdiocese is working with Caritas Cuba, the church's charitable arm on the island, to secure ground transportation from the airport to the Mass in Havana. It will be included in the $250 fare.

The Clinton administration has granted the archdiocese permission to fly directly to Havana from Miami, O'Neill said.