Pope Francis meets Fidel Castro, celebrates mass in Cuba

After mass, the pope will meet with Castro, then preside over vespers at Havana Cathedral before holding an unscripted exchange with young Cubans – a demographic feeling the pain of the communist island’s hard economic transition.

Pope Francis in Holguin, Cuba, September 21, 2015.

Speaking on arrival Saturday, the pope insisted that Cuba was meant to be a crossroads – in pointed contrast with its long isolation by the full embargo the USA has imposed on it since 1962.

Pope Francis has drawn widespread praise in Cuba for his role in supporting negotiations past year that led to a historic rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba.

Holguin, Cuba’s fourth-largest city, is the capital of Holguin province, where the Castro brothers were born to a wealthy Spanish sugar cane farmer and a Cuban mother, in the small rural hamlet of Biran.

In his first two days, Francis has stuck largely to spiritual messages in speeches, though he has also called for tolerance of different ideas and urged the old Cold War foes to deepen their detente after this year’s restoration of relations.

Francis however is not scheduled to meet with any anti-Castro dissidents on his trip.

Pope Francis ended his day in Santiago on the southeastern coast of Cuba.

Before meeting with Raúl Castro at the Palace of the Revolution – Havana’s seat of government – Francis thanked him for a warm welcome and pardons of 3,522 prisoners convicted of minor crimes.

Pope Francis also met with Fidel Castro’s brother Raul, who, perhaps jokingly, said he likes the Pope so much he is thinking of returning to his Catholic roots.

Cuban police kept some dissidents from attending the Mass and pounced on others apparently attempting to hand out flyers near the plaza.

Pope Francis recently held a mass in Cuba attended by more than 300,000 people.

“Despite the very hot muggy weather, Holguin’s Revolution Square was packed with thousands of people waving flags”, NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli reports on the city’s welcome for the pope.

The gentler approach, a contrast to the tack taken by his two immediate predecessors when they visited, seems driven by a desire to quietly encourage Cubans at a delicate time following the resumption of diplomatic ties with the United States.

The Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi, later confirmed that dissidents were invited to events to receive a greeting from the pope, but he didn’t know why they didn’t arrive.

After celebrating Mass, and taking a break for lunch, the Pope paid a visit to the Loma de la Cruz, or the Hill of the Cross, which overlooks the city.

Pope Francis is finishing up his trip in Cuba – and set to visit the U.S. Tuesday.

Since landing, Francis has made comments that many have considered carefully critical, and he has criticized Cuba in the past.