Pope considering Cuba stop during US trip but no decision

Pope considering Cuba stop during US trip but no decision
BY NICOLE WINFIELD ASSOCIATED PRESS
04/17/2015 4:18 AM 04/17/2015 4:18 AM

VATICAN CITY
Pope Francis is considering adding a stop in Cuba to his U.S. trip in
September but no decision has been made, the Vatican said Friday.

Francis has been credited with having helped the United States and Cuba
reach their historic rapprochement by writing to the leaders of both
countries and having the Vatican host their delegations for the final
negotiations.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Francis "is
considering the idea of a Cuba leg" but that discussions with Cuba are
at an early stage. He said it's too early to say that a decision has
been taken or that there is an operational plan underway.

The possibility of a Cuban stop was first reported by the Wall Street
Journal.

Francis is scheduled to visit three U.S. cities in the last week of
September. He will address Congress and meet with President Barack Obama
at the White House, address the U.N. in New York and attend a church
rally for families in Philadelphia.

If a Cuba stop is confirmed on either end of the U.S. trip, Francis
would become the third pope to visit the island nation after the
historic 1998 visit of St. John Paul II during which he said Cuba should
"open itself up to the world, and may the world open itself up to Cuba."

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI followed up with a 2012 trip during which he
voiced the Vatican's long-standing position that the U.S. embargo was
unjust and only hurt the most vulnerable on the island.

Francis also has spoken out against the U.S. embargo while also
condemning socialism.

Francis' personal intervention in the U.S.-Cuban thaw was one of the
most tangible signs that he wants the Vatican to be a greater player in
international diplomacy. A more controversial intervention was his
recent declaration that the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a
century ago was "genocide."

Source: Pope considering Cuba stop during US trip but no decision |
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