Obama, Castro speak by phone

Also as part of the most recent package of changes is the removal of the cap on the amount of money that can be brought to the Island and a further easing of travel restrictions, though Americans still cannot travel to Cuba strictly as tourists. Francis will visit Cuba from September 19-22, before arriving in the United States, making…

“I think that’s relevant for young people who are navigating their way through adolescence and adulthood”, Annarelli said. “We had wanted to see him but because we are such a big family, we knew we never could”. “His teachings are so down to earth that the message resonates with everyone”. I’m not kidding you.

As well as Havana, he is due to visit Holguin and Santiago, birthplace of Castro’s revolution, following in the footsteps of his immediate predecessors Benedict XVI and John Paul II, who visited in 2012 and 1998 respectively.

The Catholic Church, long identified with Cuba’s wealthier citizens, took a vehemently anti-communist line shortly before Fidel Castro declared the country to be socialist in 1961.

Philadelphia has been preparing for the estimated throngs of visitors for more than a year.

While he is sure of a warm welcome in Cuba, the outcome of the USA leg of Francis’s 10th overseas trip looks more uncertain.

When Pope Francis comes calling, a number of future priests from Raleigh will get the same experience as Burbidge had.

That was underlined on Friday when a Republican lawmaker declared he would be boycotting the pontiff’s historic address to Congress in protest over his “leftist” views.

Because the pope has challenged the world to end hunger by 2025, the archdiocese has named its campaign Food for All, said Sean Ater, director of the archdiocese Office of New Evangelization, which coordinates outreach for parishes and schools.

Such views are not the only potential source of friction.

And perhaps more troubling for the church is the report that states for every one Catholic convert, more than six Catholics leave the church.

This phone chat is the first conversation between Obama and Castro since the two presidents met for the first time in April in Panama.

But this week, he’s thinking about his last encounter with Pope Francis, at the Vatican.

While in New York, the pontiff will preside over a multi-faith service at Ground Zero against terrorism and in memory of the victims of the September 2001 attacks on the United States.

Organizers expect more than 1 million people for the Mass and as many as 750,000 for a concert and festival featuring the pope the night before, also on the parkway.