Obama, Castro discuss steps to advance ties

An Arizona congressman who decided not to attend Pope Francis’ address to Congress on Thursday says he is boycotting because he thinks the pontiff will focus on climate change instead of religious tolerance and the sanctity of life.

A worker hangs banners ahead of Pope Francis’ scheduled visit, Wednesday, September 16, 2015, on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.

With Pope Francis making his first visit to the U.S. September 22, people have been clamoring for months to get tickets to see the head of the Catholic Church.

“I’m getting a rosary with Pope Francis’ pectoral cross on it for my mother”, said student Chris Pierno.

Fr. Montes de Oca indicated that for the Mass Pope Francis will say in Revolution Square on Sunday, estimates suggest attendance will be around 200,000, and for the Mass in Holguín the next day, around 150,000. A meeting with Fidel Castro is likely at some point.

Eighteen boys from Loyola High School in Los Angeles also will travel to Philadelphia next week, where Francis will celebrate Mass at Cathedral Basilica of Sts. He may or may not have a press conference en route.

To many, he has brought new ideas to the Catholic Church, ideas that have garnered much support, but also criticism. Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, a diocese that has often been at the center of Cuban-Vatican-US relations, is doing the same.

“We hope that his visit means more to students than just a normal celebrity passing through”, said Amy Rowland, university staff.

That, as well as his position as the first Latin American pope, has created an expectation that he’ll further his involvement in the movement to open Cuba. It’s not clear if well-known dissident groups like Las Damas de Blanco (the Ladies in White) will be tolerated. Will he leave an object at the shrine of the Virgin at El Cobre?

“U.S. companies will be allowed to establish offices or warehouses in Cuba, as well as have joint ventures on the island”. “I am confident he is going to do the same in Cuba”, said Jean-Pierre Ruiz, theology professor at New York’s St John’s University.