SANTIAGO, Cuba — Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cuba on Monday in the footsteps of his more famous predecessor, gently pressing the island’s longtime communist leaders to push through “legitimate” changes their people desire while also criticizing the excesses of capitalism.
In contrast to the raucous welcome Benedict received in Mexico, his arrival in Cuba’s second city was relatively subdued. President Raul Castro greeted him at the airport with a 21-cannon salute and a goosestepping military honor guard, but few ordinary Cubans lined Benedict’s motorcade route into town, and the pope barely waved from his glassed-in pope mobile.
Santiago’s main plaza, however, came alive when Benedict arrived for his evening Mass, his main public event here before heading to Havana today. The plaza, with a capacity of about 200,000, was not fully packed, but the atmosphere was festive, with Cubans dancing to the rhythms of a samba band and waving small Cuban and Vatican flags as they awaited Benedict’s arrival.
“It is a message of love, this visit,” said Jorgelina Guevara, a 59-year-old homemaker, as she waited for the Mass to begin. “The Cuban people need it.”
The trip comes 14 years after John Paul’s historic tour, when the Polish pope who helped bring down communism in his homeland admonished Fidel Castro to free prisoners of conscience, end abortion and let the Roman Catholic Church take its place in society.
Benedict’s message as he arrived was subtle, taking into account the overhauls that Raul Castro has enacted since taking over from his older brother in 2006 and the greater role the Catholic Church has played in Cuban affairs, most recently in negotiating the release of dozens of political prisoners.
The pontiff, who at the start of his trip said Marxism “no longer responds to reality,” gave a much gentler message upon arriving on Cuban soil, saying he wants to inspire and encourage Cubans on the island and beyond.
“I carry in my heart the just aspirations and legitimate desires of all Cubans, wherever they may be,” he said. “Those of the young and the elderly, of adolescents and children, of the sick and workers, of prisoners and their families, and of the poor and those in need.”
The 84-year-old pontiff’s voice was tired, and by the end of the day he seemed exhausted after four days of vigorous travel.
In his own remarks, the Cuban leader assured Benedict that his country favors complete religious liberty and has good relations with all religious institutions. He also criticized the 50-year U.S. economic embargo and defended the socialist ideal of providing for those less fortunate.
“We have confronted scarcity but have never failed in our duty to share with those who have less,” Castro said, adding that his country remains determined to chart its own path and resist efforts by “the most forceful power that history has ever known” - a reference to the United States - to thwart the island’s socialist model.
Benedict’s three-day stay in Cuba inevitably sparked comparisons to John Paul’s visit, when Fidel Castro traded his army fatigues for a suit and tie to greet the pope and where he uttered the now-famous words: “May Cuba, with all its magnificent potential, open itself up to the world, and may the world open itself up to Cuba.”
Benedict denounced the ills of capitalism - a theme he has touched on frequently amid the global financial crisis but which took on particular significance in one of the world’s last remaining Marxist systems.
Information for this article was contributed by Peter Orsi, Paul Haven and Laura Wides-Munoz of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 03/27/2012