2012-03-30 09:00:22

Pope in Cuba: an invitation to conversion


Pope Benedict XVI returned to Rome yesterday, after a six-day visit to Latin America that took him first to Mexico and then to Cuba. As he left Cuba, the Holy Father called on all the people of the country to open their hearts to Christ’s Gospel so as authentically to renew their personal and social life. Commentators have already begun speaking about what kind of impact the visit of the Pope will have on Cuba.

Bishop Luis del Castillo Estrada, S.J., is the retired bishop of Melo in Uruguay. After his retirement, he was asked by the Jesuits to serve as a parish priest in Cuba.

He told Vatican Radio it is important to understand the nature of the pastoral visit of Pope Benedict before drawing any conclusions about the trip.

“I think we have to make a clear distinction between a visit, say, from Ban Ki-moon from the United Nations, or perhaps Merkel from Germany -with a clear political agenda - and the pastoral visit of the Pope, that is aiming at the renewal of persons and communities that will eventually have, as a result, a change in the situation,” he said.

“We don’t have the same type of political itinerary that meetings for instance of the European Union or United Nations normally have on these international visits,” Bishop Castillo continued.

“I think we have to be very clear on making a distinction on those visits which that an immediate agenda, and a spiritual pilgrimage, such as that of the Holy Father, which aims at, at least long-term, inviting people to conversion and to a closer identity with Jesus’s message so that persons and societies can live in a world that is more human and more human friendly, as [the Pope] expressed.”

Listen to full interview by Emer McCarthy with Bishop Castillo: RealAudioMP3








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