Pope Francis urges Cubans to put people before ideology

Pope Francis presented Fidel Castro with a link to the past Sunday: poems by a Jesuit teacher forced to flee Cuba after his one-time student – the now-ailing Marxist icon – led a revolution. “Holguin is with you!” from the tarmac as the pope emerged from an Alitalia plane.

Three were dragged away from Revolution Square on Sunday before the pope celebrated Mass for tens of thousands. “We serve people“. This papal visit came as the USA and Cuba have restored diplomatic relations, thanks in part to some behind-the-scenes brokering by the Vatican.

POPE FRANCIS (through interpreter): Service is never ideological, for we do not serve ideas.

In his homily Monday, Francis pressed some of the subtle themes he has developed during this delicate balancing act of a visit, telling thousands in Holguin the story of how Jesus picked a lowly and despised tax collector, Matthew, and instructed him to follow him without casting judgment.

But Francis has also been on record criticizing Cuba’s socialist – and atheist – revolution as denying individuals their “transcendent dignity”.

Alex Castro/AP Pope Francis and Cuba’s Fidel Castro shakes hand at Castro’s residence. But several dissidents were reported detained in advance of his visit, and not everyone in Cuba approves of the Vatican’s non-confrontational approach.

Not to go too far though, the pope also expressed his regret that he could not welcome all Cubans, a reference believed to refer to the dissident community. The pope held separate talks with Castro’s brother, the current president, Raul Castro. Those four had attempted to deliver a letter to the pope, one of whom got close enough to make contact with Francis in his popemobile, UNPACU leader Jose Daniel Ferrer said.

HANDOUT/REUTERS/ Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (l.) greets Pope Francis after a mass in Havana’s Revolution Square in Cuba.

“The government of Cuba is finally showing signs of intelligence and recognizing it has committed many errors, as much in the area of religion as in the politics between the United States and Cuba”, he said.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, asked Monday about the event, said, “We have certainly long made the case that the Cuban government, whether the pope’s on the island or not, should do a better job of protecting the human rights of their citizens”.

He will fly to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday and head to New York Thursday evening for a two-day visit that will culminate with a Mass at Madison Square Garden.