In a rare sabbath audience, Pope Francis met with Cuban President Raúl Castro at the Vatican on Sunday. In addition to some remarkable quotations, what emerged from that meeting was a refreshing reminder that it is possible for a world leader to combine goodness with intellect and the ability to see beyond the next election. There are more than a few others who should be paying attention.
When he announced in December that diplomatic relations would be restored between Cuba and the United States, President Obama said Francis played a key role in that development. The pope had helped the process along with personal letters and by allowing the Vatican to be used for secret meetings between Cuban and U.S. diplomats. And with that, he helped end an unproductive stalemate that seemed frozen in place for more than 50 years.
Part of Castro’s purpose Sunday was to thank the pope for his part in that process. Beyond that, though, Francis seems to have made a real impression on the 83-year-old communist. Reuters reported the two met for almost an hour, which it said is “unusually long for a papal meeting.” The New York Times said the Vatican described the meeting as “very friendly.”
After the meeting, Castro, who like his older brother Fidel reportedly was raised Catholic, said he might even return to the church.
“I will resume praying and turn to the church again if the pope continues in this vein,” Castro said.
He also said Francis could expect a warm welcome when he visits Cuba en route to the United States in September. In a televised news conference, Castro said, “I promise to go to all his masses, and if the pope continues this way, I will go back to praying and go back to the church. I’m not joking.”
Of course, none of this is occurring in a vacuum. Fidel Castro visited Pope John Paul II in 1996, and John Paul returned the favor two years later. In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI also visited Cuba. And everything is happening in the context of other events, such as oil prices and Venezuela’s decreased ability to prop up the Castro regime’s almost nonexistent economy.
But those other forces do not explain everything. And there is more to this than atmospherics and sound bites.
In his news conference Sunday, Raúl Castro said, “I am from the Cuban Communist Party that doesn’t allow believers, but now we are allowing it. It’s an important step.”
It is an important step. And it does not matter if the Castros are taking it out of economic desperation, a sudden change of heart or because of the power of papal intercession. (There is precedent for that. In 452, Pope Leo I – now St. Leo – reportedly met with Attila the Hun and talked him out of sacking Rome.)
What matters is that with this diplomatic thaw, Cuba and the United States slowly are moving toward a more open and normal relationship. And, in time, that only can mean better lives for the Cuban people.
In recent months, Cuban Catholics got permission to build a new church – the first in Cuba since 1959. That probably is not all Francis would like to see, but it is progress nonetheless.
