Pope Benedict: Cuba and the world need change

Fidel Castro meeting Pope Benedict

The Holy Father has nearly completed his apostolic mission in Cuba. He then met an ailing Fidel after Mass. We must pray that somehow our Blessed Saviour may soften Fidel's heart before death.


Earlier, in his masterly sermon, the Holy Father outlined a return to authentic Catholicism in Cuba; yet a lesson that we, in the secularized "west" could do well to listen to and act upon:

Fidel enjoying his visit with the Pope

Furthermore, the truth which stands above humanity is an unavoidable condition for attaining freedom...Christianity, in highlighting those values which sustain ethics, does not impose, but rather proposes Christ’s invitation to know the truth which sets us free. The believer is called to offer that truth to his contemporaries, as did the Lord, even before the ominous shadow of rejection and the Cross....Convinced that it is Christ who is the true measure of man, and knowing that in him we find the strength needed to face every trial, I wish to proclaim openly that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. In him everyone will find complete freedom, the light to understand reality most deeply and to transform it by the renewing power of love...Cuba and the world need change, but this will occur only if each one is in a position to seek the truth and chooses the way of love, sowing reconciliation and fraternity.

A frail Fidel speaking with His Holiness