VATICAN CITY, (Reuters) – Pope Francis will visit Cuba en route to the United States in September, the Vatican said yesterday, capping his success in bringing the former enemies together after more than half a century of frozen antagonism.
Last December, Havana and Washington announced after 18 months of secret diplomacy brokered by the pope’s diplomats and Canada that the two sides were working to reopen embassies in their respective capitals.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi did not specify how long the stop in Cuba would last, saying only that Francis had accepted invitations made by the Cuban government and the Cuban Roman Catholic Church.
It will be the Argentine pope’s first visit to the Caribbean island nation as pontiff. Both his predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, visited the island and met revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.
“The presence of his holiness in Cuba will be memorable. He will receive the warmest hospitality of the Cuban people,” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told a news conference during a visit to Brussels.
