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Pope Francis to Meet With Raul Castro on Trip to Cuba — But No Dissidents

Francis won’t meet with any Cuban dissidents on his trip, but a Vatican spokesman suggested the pope could broach the subject of human rights in a private meeting with Castro.
Photo by Alejandro Ernesto/EPA

Pope Francis will arrive in Cuba on Saturday afternoon for his first trip to the communist nation since the start of his papacy.

Francis will give speeches, hold masses, and deliver homilies, including one in Havana's Revolution Square. He'll meet with kids at a cultural center, families at a Cathedral, priests, bishops, seminarians, and President Raul Castro.

But the pope will not meet with any dissidents, sticking to a precedent established by his two predecessors. Neither Pope Benedict XVI or Pope John Paul II, who visited Cuba in 2012 and 1998, respectively, met with Cuban political activists.

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Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi confirmed earlier this week that Francis neither accepted nor extended any invitations to meet with dissidents, a move that caused a considerable amount of consternation among the Cuban opposition.

Related: Pope Francis Warms Communist Leader's Heart Ahead of Cuba Visit

Cubans in Miami, Florida, hold signs during a rally against Pope Francis's trip to Cuba. (Photo by Cristobal Herrera/EPA)

Lombardi suggested, however, that Pope Francis might broach the subject of human rights during a private meeting with Castro.

"Often, these types of problems are dealt with in conversations, not so much with public proclamations but in personal, direct or private discussions," he told the Associated Press. "The tradition of the Holy See's authority is to deal with them with a discretion that can often be more efficient than other, possibly more visible but less opportune ways."

Activists are not satisfied by the suggestion. "He should exert more pressure," Antonio Rodiles, head of the hardline group Estado de SATS, told the AP. "In many cases, political systems have come under international pressure that has resulted in change, and that's what needs to happen with Cuba."

Controversial as it may be among dissidents, Francis' decision is in line with the strategy pursued for the last several decades by the Cuban Catholic Church of advocating for change without challenging the government.

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