Cuba, Mexico Churches announce dates, details for Pope's visit

(January 02, 2012) The Catholic Church of Cuba has announced the dates and a partial itinerary of Pope Benedict XVI's much-anticipated visit to the island nation, the first by a pontiff since Blessed John Paul II's historic 1998 visit. The Holy See hasn’t confirmed any details of the visit as yet. In a statement on Sunday, Cuba’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference said the pontiff will be in Cuba from March 26 to 28, following a visit to Mexico. The 84-year-old pontiff will only be in the Caribbean nation for about 48 hours and appears to have no plans to visit important regional cities such as Santa Clara and Camaguey, both of which received Pope John Paul II. The visit coincides with the 400th anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin of Caridad del Cobre. The Cuban bishops said Pope Benedict will visit the western city of Santiago, the shrine of Cuba's patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre and will celebrate an open-air Mass on the last day at Havana’s sprawling Revolution Plaza. During the visit the Pope will hold a private meeting with President Raul Castro, but there is no mention of meeting also Fidel Castro, the former president who is retired. In a goodwill gesture for the Pope’s visit Raul Castro has decited has released December that Cuba would free 2,900 inmates as a humanitarian gesture, including a small number jailed for political crimes.
The Church in Mexico which Pope Benedict XVI will visit before proceeding to Cuba, has also released dates and details of the papal trip. The Mexican bishops’ conference said on Sunday Pope Benedict will arrive on March 23 in the city of Leon where President Felipe Calderon will welcome him. It said the Pope also plans to greet the faithful in the city of Guanajuato, skipping the country’s capital during his first visit to Mexico. He will officiate a Mass in the city of Silao beneath a hill where a 67-foot statue of Jesus Christ stands. The pope will return to Leon to address bishops from Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean before heading to Cuba on March 26. The Vatican had said Benedict would avoid Mexico City because of its high altitude although it's the country's biggest city. The Vatican has not confirmed the dates nor details. Pope Benedict has declared that he would visit the two nations before Easter in April.