Sawt Falasteen - Catholics in secular Cuba hail Francis as 'bridge'

The country, which was officially atheist for three decades, declared three days of mourning for the pontiff, and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel attended a special mass at Havana's cathedral Thursday.

Ex-president Raul Castro -- brother of revolutionary leader Fidel, who had initially cracked down on religion -- sent a message of condolences calling Francis a "man of integrity."

The Catholic Church's first Latin American pope played a special role in Cuban history, negotiating a resumption of diplomatic relations with Washington under president Barack Obama in 2015, after decades of Cold War estrangement.

He became the third pope to visit the island, once in both 2015 and 2016.

The Communist Party of Cuba declared the state secular, no longer atheist, in 1992, allowing for greater religious freedom.

Havana's cathedral, which normally draws only a trickle of worshippers, was packed Thursday to bid a final farewell to Francis.

The pontiff, who died Monday aged 88, "fostered dialogue, especially between Cuba and the United States, which was very difficult," said 75-year-old Osvaldo Ferreira, a cathedral custodian.

The pope, added 24-year-old doctor Rayneris Lopez, was "like a bridge" between Cuba and the United States.

- Pope 'loved this country' -

The detente that Francis helped foster has suffered setbacks since Obama left office in 2017.

Obama's successor Donald Trump severed ties with Havana during his first term, and toughened sanctions now in place for over 60 years.

In 2022, the administration of Joe Biden added Cuba to a religious freedom blacklist, pointing to arrests of religious figures over their purported role in rare public protests, as well as restrictions on certain churches.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez at the time rejected the accusation saying: "It is known that in Cuba there is religious freedom."

In one of his final official acts, Biden on January 14 removed Cuba from a US list of state terror sponsors in return for the communist island agreeing to free 553 prisoners in a deal also mediated by the Vatican.

But six days later marked the swearing-in of Trump for a second term. He swiftly overturned the deal.

Havana claims it has released all 553 people subject to the deal with Biden, including 231 considered "political prisoners" by rights groups.

Most of the 231 had been rounded up in a crackdown on mass protests against the Cuban government in July 2021.

During his homily on Thursday, the Holy See's envoy to Cuba Antoine Camilleri recalled the late pontiff had "loved this country, the Cuban church, and the Cuban people very much."

"They are a people with wounds, like all people, but who know how to hold their arms open, to walk with hope, because their vocation is greatness," Camilleri said Francis told him in a meeting in February.

B.Khalifa--SF-PST