Paul KeenanThe Vatican still faces challenges in Cuba, writes Paul Keenan
Here is a safe prediction for Pope Francis’ upcoming four-day trip to Cuba this September 19. The cheers will be louder than those for Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, the bells will ring out more than for Pope John Paul II in 1998 and the atmosphere will be as though all of Havana’s carnivals had happened at once.
Though it plays a part, the current Pontiff’s Latin American credentials will have little to do with such a welcome. Similarly, there is no reason to believe that his predecessors were any less beloved as leaders of the majority faith in Cuba (though an officially secular, post-atheist nation). No, when Pope Francis lands in Havana on September 19, the cheers and platitudes that greet him will be as much for his now widely-recognised role in Cuba’s recent ‘return to the fold’ of western politics.
No secret
It is no secret today that Pope Francis took an active role in encouraging secret talks between Cuba and its decades-old rival the US that took place in 2014. In September of that year, for example, the Pontiff penned personal letters to both President Barack Obama and President Raul Castro to offer all and any assistance at his disposal towards successful talks on rapprochement, including the use of the Vatican as a neutral space for such talks.
Such a role paid its dividend last December with the stunning announcement from the two countries that relations would move towards normalisation, and the infamous US trade embargo would cease after 50 years in effect.
Entitled to a sense of satisfaction for his part in this outcome, it was typical for this Pope that it remained a quiet measure until the American and Cuban leaders individually thanked Pope Francis for his actions. President Obama, who had first listened to the Pontiff’s appeal on relations as far back as March of 2014, said after the outcome of negotiations: “I want to thank His Holiness, Pope Francis, whose moral example shows us the importance of pursuing the world as it should be, rather than simply settling for the world as it is.”
Expressing his own thanks during an official visit to the Vatican in May of this year, President Castro stated publicly that the Jesuit Pope had caused him to consider a return to Catholicism (like his brother, Fidel, Raul was educated by the Jesuits in Cuba).
Such declarations are easily made, of course, and there are many who will continue to doubt the sentiments expressed by President Castro, the namesake of the revolutionary leader who all but swept aside the presence of the Catholic Church in Cuba from 1959 onwards.
Among those wary of the Castros and their claims are the Women in White, those relatives of Cuba’s imprisoned dissident population – numbering some 80 – who continue to stage peaceful marches and demonstrations in support of their loved ones and who, in recent weeks, have reported an upswing in harassment by the agents of officialdom as the papal visit grows near.
There is every reason to be fearful. While the previous papal visits saw clampdowns on the Women in White, the flag-raising ceremony for the Stars and Stripes of August 13 occurred in virtual silence as to Cuba’s ongoing human rights abuses. (US Republican presidential hopefuls were quick to score points on the day, declaring that the Obama administration’s embargo-busting would merely offer financial backing to the Castro dictatorship)
One can guarantee that the Pope will not remain ‘diplomatically silent’ on the issue of human freedoms and dignity; the Vatican record in chastising Cuba stands for itself, while Pope Francis’ own persona offers every reason to believe that he will call for the ‘new Cuba’ to prove itself in ‘new approaches’ to its people.
A far weightier task , however, faces the Church itself on September 19.
As Pope Francis touches Cuban soil, he reaches a country, which, on paper, remains at least 53% Catholic. Indeed, during his trip, tens of thousands are predicted to attend the three major Masses he will lead: in Havana, Holguin and El Cobre (the latter site being home to the National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity del Cobre, Cuba’s patron saint). But this, like much of Latin America, is a surface reading of a nation where Catholicism has been greatly affected not alone by the revolution, but changes in religious demography. Some commentators suggest that of those who self-identify as Catholic, just 10% actively practise their faith.
More worrying yet, others who have defied the secular authorities to worship, are not doing so in the traditions of their parents and grandparents.
As the US flag rose in Havana in mid-August, The Sun Herald newspaper of Gulfport, Mississippi reported on the success of a missionary trip by the First Baptist Missionary Church of Gulfport to Cuba. Its aim in undertaking the visit was to launch a faith drive towards realising a goal of 100 house churches for itself on the island. Three concerts backed by the Baptists in Havana attracted capacity crowds of young people for whom Catholicism has been something of a ‘background’ phenomenon throughout their lives.
Then there is the following of Santeria. An amalgam of the Catholic traditions introduced by Spanish settlers and folk beliefs clung to by West African slaves, Santeria’s profile has benefitted from the loosening of religious restrictions in Cuba in recent years to offer itself as an attractive form of worship among Cubans, who see in it their true roots as a people.
Indeed, many who worship as Catholics simultaneously worship via Santeria, viewing Catholic saints as renamed Santeria deities and combining Catholic pilgrimages with Santeria ceremonies. (The sick, for example, pray to St Lazarus, also known as Babalú-Ayé.)
Such are the results of history. But it is a history entering an entirely new phase thanks to the easing of mistrust between politicians of differing ideologies. And if Pope Francis was able to achieve so much between a world superpower and a regime so opposed to Catholic ‘intrusion’, who can say what he may yet set in motion when the bells of Havana ring out in his name?