Vatican: Pope's Cuba trip should help democracy

[March 22, 2012]  VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican's No. 2 has dismissed suggestions that Cuba's Communist government could exploit Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming trip as a propaganda tool, saying the visit should help promote democracy on the island.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, said he expects an outpouring of support for the pope because he is the head of the Catholic Church and the visit will only make things better for the Cuban church.

"I don't believe the visit will be exploited by the government," Bertone told the Turin daily La Stampa in an interview published Thursday. "In fact, I think the government and Cuban people will do their utmost to welcome the pope and show him the esteem and trust that the leader of the Catholic Church deserves."

Benedict leaves Friday for a six-day trip that will take him first to the central Mexican cities of Leon and Guanajuato, then to Cuba on March 26.

While a meeting with Fidel Castro isn't on the official agenda, the Vatican has said it could happen if the 85-year-old revolutionary leader wants it.

Cuba's single-party, Communist government never outlawed religion, but it expelled priests and closed religious schools upon Castro's takeover of Cuba in 1959. Tensions eased in the early 1990s when the government removed references to atheism in the constitution and let believers of all faiths join the Communist Party.

Pope John Paul II made a historic visit to Cuba in 1998, further warming relations.

But problems remain.

Despite years of lobbying, the church has virtually no access to state-run radio or television, is not allowed to administer schools, and has not been granted permission to build new places of worship. The island of 11.2 million has just 361 priests, many of them non-Cubans. Before 1959, there were 700 priests for a population of 6 million.

Bertone cited the school and building bans in the interview, saying it is an issue that has to be resolved.

"But after 14 years (since John Paul's visit) ... there's no doubt that the current visit of Pope Benedict XVI will help the process of development toward democracy and will open new spaces for the church's presence and activity," Bertone was quoted as saying.

[Associated Press; By NICOLE WINFIELD]

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