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 Better sensitized to the issue than predecessors because of his
Latin American roots, the 78-year-old Argentine pontiff facilitated
a back channel for talks and sent missives to Presidents Raul Castro
and Barack Obama in 2014.
That bore fruit with this year's re-establishment of diplomatic ties
and the easing of some travel and trade restrictions though a
half-century-old economic embargo is still in place, only removable
by the U.S. Congress.
"We all want to say thank you so much Francis for helping us end
this absurd situation we have endured for so long," said plumber
Osmany Lopez, 63, who planned to be on the streets of Havana to see
Francis' motorcade from the airport on Saturday.
Raul Castro - who like his brother and former revolutionary leader
Fidel Castro was baptized as a Catholic and educated by Jesuits -
was expected to greet Francis at the airport. It will be the third
papal visit to Cuba in less than two decades.
 Despite making Cuba constitutionally atheist and repressing
Catholics in the early years after their 1959 revolution, the Castro
brothers have relaxed that stance since the 1990s.
Raul Castro even told the Jesuit Francis earlier this year he may
start praying again and return to the Church.
MOMENTUM FOR CHANGE
The pope is to celebrate Mass in Havana, Holguin and Santiago before
flying on Tuesday to the United States, where he will meet Obama and
address both the U.S. Congress and United Nations.
Having helped bring the U.S.-Cuba rapprochement, he is unlikely to
wade much further into the future of relations where a web of
legislation, vested interests, and decades-old resentments are
braking the pace of change.
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But Francis may well use the Cuba leg to touch on the Vatican's
well-known opposition to the U.S. embargo. He might also call for
greater political tolerance from the ruling Communist Party, which
still treats dissidents as pariahs.
In a video chat with Cuban students, shown by broadcaster CNN on
Friday, the pope referred to a potentially touchy subject for his
Cuban hosts, saying leaders who did not promote other leaders "are
no good, they are dictators."
But in a formal message to Cubans prior to his arrival, the pope
stuck to a strictly non-political script: "My message is very
simple: Jesus loves you very much," he said.
An estimated 60 percent of Cuba's 11 million people are baptized
Catholic, the Church says, but fewer than 5 percent regularly attend
church, and at least an equal number are believed to follow
Afro-Cuban religions and
"I'm a devout 'Santero' - the Church is for old people!" laughed
Eduardo Gutierrez, 19, sitting with his girlfriend on Havana's
languid seafront. "But after what Francis has done for us, I am
going to Revolution Square to show him my respect."
(Additional reporting by Noe Torres in Mexico City; Editing by
Daniel Trotta and Kieran Murray)
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