Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Sunday morning in Havana’s Revolution Square in the presence of over 300,000 Cubans and overseas visitors that came to Cuba for the occasion, who had been waiting in the Square since early morning.
The Pope traveled from the Apostolic Nunciature in the Havana municipality of Playa, where he spent the night after arriving on Saturday afternoon from Rome. Crowds of Cubans gathered on the sides of the road to catch a glimpse of him.
Later on Sunday, Pope Francis was due to pay a courtesy visit to Cuban President Raul Castro and then go to the Havana’s Cathedral to meet with priests, seminarians and other religious people.
The Pope arrived in Cuba on Saturday afternoon for a four-day visit and was met by Castro, accompanied by Cuban cardinal Jaime Ortega, as well as top officials of the Cuban government and the Catholic Church.
In his remarks on arriving, Pope Francis praised the thaw in the relations between Cuba and the United States and said the path of normalisation of relations the two countries have taken is an example of reconciliation for the world that fills everybody with hope.
He added this process, in which the Vatican played a key role, as acknowledged by both Castro and US President Barack Obama, will require resolving problems and correcting injustices.
