HAVANA — Pope Francis began a 10-day trip to Cuba and the United States on Saturday, embarking on his first trip to the onetime Cold War foes after serving as secret mediator of their historic rapprochement. He will be offering a show of solidarity with Cubans and delivering the message in the United States that Hispanics are the bedrock of the church there.
The first Latin American pope will become the first pontiff to address the U.S. Congress and will also proclaim the first saint on U.S. soil by canonizing the missionary, Junipero Serra.
With his arrival in Havana, where he was greeted by President Raul Castro, he became the third pontiff to visit Cuba in the past 17 years — a remarkable record for any country, much less one with a small community of practicing Catholics.
It's largely unknown territory for the 78-year-old Argentine Jesuit, who has never visited either country and confessed that the United States was so foreign to him that he would spend the summer reading up on it. His popularity ratings are high in the U.S., but he also has gained detractors, particularly among conservatives over his critiques of the excesses of capitalism.
See Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.