.c The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II will visit four Cuban cities and the hometown of the island's patron saint when he journeys there for the first time next year, Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega announced Sunday in Havana.
Speaking at an open-air Mass, Ortega said the Pope will celebrate Masses in Havana, Santa Clara and Camaguey during the five-day visit scheduled for Jan 21-25, the official Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported.
The high point of the papal visit is expected to be the pontiff's symbolic crowning of Cuba's patron saint, the Virgin of Charity, in the town of El Cobre before he travels to Santiago de Cuba on the eastern tip of the island.
The pope continues to confound skeptics with his ability to maintain a grueling travel schedule, despite his flagging health.
On Sunday in Bologna, Italy, the pope celebrated Mass for more than 300,000 people, looking none the worse for wear the morning after attending a concert in his honor.
During the performance, which featured rock legend Bob Dylan singing ``Knockin' on Heaven's Door,'' the pope's left hand shook noticeably. His voice also quavers these days and he moves with difficulty, sometimes relying on a cane for support. Nonetheless, he leaves Rome on Friday for a four-day trip to Brazil.
Before the pontiff's arrival in Cuba, Catholics on the island plan to hold a total of 13 Masses dedicated to the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre.
The image of the Virgin - a representation of the Virgin Mary - is a powerful symbol of maternal and patriotic love in Cuba, Ortega said Sunday.
Ortega reminded about 1,000 worshippers that the rebels who fought for Cuba's independence from Spain in the late 19th century wore medals with the Virgin's image.
Most Cubans know the story of how the Virgin of Charity appeared in 1628 to three boys in a boat in the Bay of Nipe near Santiago de Cuba.
The boys are purported to have seen a wooden board carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary, clothed in a yellow gown and depicted as a mulatta, a woman of mixed white and black ancestry.
In her left arm, the Virgin carried a mulatto baby Jesus. In her right hand, she held a cross.
``I am the Virgin of Charity,'' was inscribed on the board. Tradition holds that it is the same board that is framed and displayed today in the shrine in San Cobre.
Although religious practice is legal and has recently become more accepted in Cuba, believers have suffered ridicule from relatives and neighbors, and discrimination by co-workers.
In the years after the 1959 revolution, President Fidel Castro reportedly wore a medallion engraved with the Virgin of Charity given him by a little girl. Those reports say he stopped wearing it after his government became increasingly Marxist.
AP-NY-09-28-97 1911EDT