With little more than five weeks to go before the scheduled visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba, dozens of Roman Catholic Church dignitaries from the United States and Latin America are still waiting for visas from Havana, a Vatican source told The Herald Friday.

``So far, the only person who has received a visa is the president of CELAM [the Latin American Bishops Conference], Monsignor Oscar Rodriguez,'' said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Rodriguez, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, picked up the visa Wednesday at the Cuban mission to the Vatican. The Honduran prelate is in Rome attending the Synod of the Americas.

According to the Vatican-Havana commission that is organizing the papal visit, the Cuban government has agreed to issue about 300 visas to foreign guests of the Cuban Catholic Church.

In addition, the bishops of the cities on the papal route -- Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Camaguey and Santa Clara -- may invite 30 foreign guests each, for whom the government must provide visas.

``The fact is that so far nobody has received any visa, anywhere,'' the source said. ``There's little time left, considering that Christmas and New Year festivities will take up two of the five weeks left to us.''

The pope is expected to arrive in Cuba Jan. 21 and leave Jan. 25.

Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald