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: