Pope Francis met with former Cuban President Fidel Castro on Sunday, along with his wife, sons, and grandsons, a Vatican spokesman said. Before the 40-minute meeting where the two exchanged books, the pope held Mass in Havana's Revolution Square for a crowd of 300,000, ABC News reports.
"God's holy and faithful people in Cuba is a people with a taste for parties, for friendship, for beautiful things," Francis said during Mass. "It is a people which marches with songs of praise. It is a people which has its wounds, like every other people, yet knows how to stand up with open arms, to keep walking in hope, because it has a vocation of grandeur."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Iframe Code
Iframe Code
Two men and a woman were detained after throwing leaflets at the pontiff.
On Tuesday, Pope Francis will travel to the U.S. and make stops in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia.
-
Why ‘anti-Islam’ bikers are guarding Gaza aid sitesIn The Spotlight Members of Infidels MC, who regard themselves as modern Crusaders, among private security guards at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites
-
China: Xi seeks to fill America’s voidFeature Trump’s tariffs are pushing nations eastward as Xi Jinping focuses on strengthening ties with global leaders
-
Rebrands: Bringing back the War DepartmentFeature Trump revives the Department of Defense’s former name
-
Pope Leo canonizes first millennial saintSpeed Read Two young Italians, Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, were elevated to sainthood
-
Southern Baptists endorse gay marriage banSpeed Read The largest US Protestant denomination voted to ban same-sex marriage and pornography at their national meeting
-
Prevost elected first US pope, becomes Leo XIVspeed read Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is a Chicago native who spent decades living in Peru
-
Pope Francis dies at 88Speed Read 'How much contempt is stirred up at times toward the vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants,' Pope Francis wrote in his final living message
-
Pope returns to Vatican after long hospital staySpeed Read Pope Francis entered the hospital on Feb. 14 and battled double pneumonia
-
Texas megachurch founder charged with sex crimesSpeed Read Robert Morris, former spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, is accused of sexually abusing a child
-
Pope Francis suffers setback with respiratory episodesSpeed Read The 88-year-old pope continues to battle pneumonia
-
US Christianity's long decline has halted, Pew findsSpeed Read 62% of Americans call themselves Christian, a population that has been 'relatively stable' for the past five years
