Tired, sweaty and with swollen feet, Ignacio and Minerva Saez entered the Ermita de la Caridad church on Sunday after walking 20 miles from their home in Sweetwater.

``Since the Cuban people are making sacrifices to see the pope and going to the Masses, we decided to do the same,'' Minerva Saez said. ``We are also doing this to thank the pope for visiting our fatherland.''

The couple left their home on Flagler Street and 109th Avenue at 5 a.m. Six hours later, they entered the Ermita, facing Biscayne Bay in Coconut Grove.

A few miles away, another sacrifice came to an end.

Abel Acosta, 33, ended his 11-day hunger strike at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami. In an adjoining room, about 100 people gathered to hear the pontiff's final message from Cuba.

Acosta, lying on a cot and covered with a mustard-yellow blanket, said he was going to eat Sunday night because he thought the pope's Mass was powerful enough to spur a change on the island.

``This hunger strike was a call to the political situation in Cuba,'' explained Acosta. He was protesting the imprisonment of a close friend who he said has been behind bars for eight years for speaking out against the government. ``I think Castro will have to free some prisoners now.''

The Freedom Tower was one of many spots where South Floridians gathered to celebrate their faith, listen to the pontiff and look at images of their homeland on television.

``This means changes for the people of Cuba. I think it will bring them peace,'' said Martha Terzian, 23, who was at the Freedom Tower to watch the 2 1/2-hour Mass on a 10-by-20-foot screen. ``Hopefully, this will be the start of political changes. That could mean many things -- being allowed to go to church, getting more food each month, having more freedom.''

As watchers took in the pope's message, they were surrounded by a colorful quilt bearing names of 10,000 people the Cuban National Foundation says have been killed during the 39-year rule of Fidel Castro.

``Now people will have to look at Cuba with two faces,'' said Francisco ``Pepe'' Hernandez, president of the Foundation. ``The Cuba that was, and the Cuba that is after the pope's visit. Now there is hope and strength that Cuba will be able to join the rest of the world in peace and freedom.''

At the Ermita, about 100 Cuban Catholics prayed for the success of the papal visit.

Many watched with awe on television screens as people in Havana's Plaza de la Revolucion applauded the pope and shouted slogans in favor of the pope and liberty. Despite the presence of Fidel Castro, thousands chanted over and over: ``The pope, free, he wants us all to be free!''

``The pope's visit to Cuba is a true miracle,'' said Ignacio Saez, who explained that in 1962 he was jailed in La Cabaña. ``People are very excited, especially the youth and that is surprising because the only thing they've seen is communism.''

``It was something very positive,'' said Felicia Lopez, who went to the Ermita to have her poster of Our Lady of Charity blessed. ``The pope carried a very good message to Cuba, he asked for liberty and gave a boost of courage to the people so they can continue struggling for Christ.''

Almost two hours after the pope finished his Mass, Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the Cuban exile group Movimiento Democracia, pulled into the waters next to Jose Marti Park on a 35-foot fishing boat called Derechos Humanos, or Human Rights.

Sanchez spent 20 hours trying to reach Cuba to see the pope. He and three passengers left Boynton Beach at 5 p.m. Saturday, but because of choppy waters and a faulty steering system, they made it only four miles out to sea off Fort Lauderdale.

Although exhausted, he said he was not discouraged and would try again to cross the Florida Straits.

``This is a crucial issue for a divided nation,'' Sanchez said. ``We are symbolically trying to claim the right of all Cubans to return to their homeland.''