A glance at current and past papal visits to Cuba

A glance at current and past papal visits to Cuba

A sign with an image of Pope Francis hangs on the side of the Sagrado
Corazon church in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. Pope Francis
will visit Cuba from Sept. 19-22, before arriving in the United States,
making him the third pontiff to visit the island nation. (Desmond
Boylan/Associated Press)
By Associated Press September 19 at 12:06 AM
HAVANA — Pope Francis will be the third Roman Catholic pontiff to visit
Cuba when he arrives on Saturday.

Here's a glance at his planned trip and the two previous papal visits:

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POPE FRANCIS: Visit is scheduled from Saturday through Tuesday. Francis
will celebrate Mass in Havana's main square, the Plaza of the
Revolution, on Sunday morning and will visit priests, members of
religious orders and seminarians at the Havana Cathedral that late
afternoon. He will celebrate Mass on Monday in the central-eastern city
of Holguin, and will celebrate another Mass on Tuesday at the sanctuary
of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre outside Santiago in far-eastern Cuba.
After visiting the Santiago Cathedral late Tuesday morning, he departs
for the United States.

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POPE BENEDICT XVI: Visited Cuba March 26-28, 2012, during a new period
of transition under President Raul Castro. The president greeted
Benedict upon his arrival and attended the papal Mass held in Santiago
to mark the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the image of the
Virgin of Charity of Cobre, Cuba's patron saint. Benedict also
celebrated Mass in Havana and met with former president Fidel Castro.
The pope called on Cubans to "reinvigorate your faith . that you may
strive to build a renewed and open society, a better society, one more
worthy of humanity" when he was in Santiago, the hometown of the Castro
brothers.

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POPE JOHN PAUL II: Made the first papal visit to the island Jan. 21-25,
1998. During his five days, he met with then-President Fidel Castro,
visited a leprosy center and sat down with religious leaders. He
celebrated Mass in the cities of Santa Clara, Camaguey, Santiago and
Havana, at the Plaza of the Revolution. A huge image of the Sacred Heart
of Jesus was erected on the side of the plaza's National Library to
serve as a backdrop to the temporary papal altar. John Paul's visit is
seen as an important step in Cuba's gradual opening, which led last year
to the declaration of detente with the United States. In a now-famous
speech during his trip, John Paul said Cuba should "open itself up to
the world, and may the world open itself up to Cuba."

Source: A glance at current and past papal visits to Cuba - The
Washington Post -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/a-glance-at-current-and-past-papal-visits-to-cuba/2015/09/19/ca021abe-5e83-11e5-8475-781cc9851652_story.html