Follow the Pope's visit day-by-day:   Day 1  |  Day 2  |  Day 3  |  Day 4  |  Day 5

Icons at the Crossroads  |  Cuba and Catholicism  |  An Exile Returns
Testing the Embargo  |  Live Webcasts  |  The Struggling Revolution  |  Related links

Pope lands in Cuba

Castro greets the pope

January 21, 1998
Web posted at: 4:42 p.m. EST (2142 GMT)

HAVANA (CNN) -- Pope John Paul II arrived in Cuba on Wednesday to begin his historic five-day visit to the communist-ruled Caribbean nation.

The Alitalia jet carrying the pope landed at Jose Marti International Airport just before 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT). John Paul emerged about 10 minutes later, waving to the crowd and walking slowly down to the bottom of the stairs, where he was greeted by President Fidel Castro.

A group of four children carried a basket of Cuban soil to John Paul so that he could hold it to his lips and kiss it, a customary welcoming gesture for the pope during his international journeys.

In the early years of his papacy, John Paul would bend to kiss the tarmac upon arrival. But the ceremony has been altered in recent years because of the pontiff's increasingly frail health.

Castro, wearing a business suit and black-and-white polka dot tie instead of his customary green fatigues, shook hands with the pope before a cheering, flag-waving crowd that had gathered along the tarmac. The crowd included a military honor guard, members of the Catholic clergy and Havana's diplomatic corps.

The president and the pope then proceeded to a nearby stage where the national anthems of Cuba and the Vatican were played. Each man then made a brief speech.

The pope and Castro paused on the tarmac

This is John Paul's first visit to Cuba, a nation which, between its 1959 revolution and the 1990s, has actively discouraged the practice of religion. Those restrictions have been eased in recent years, and Cuba has been officially secular, rather than atheist, since 1992.

The Polish-born pope has been an outspoken opponent of communism; his host, Castro, is one of the last world leaders maintaining a communist political system.

The Cuban regime has been actively promoting the papal visit, taking the unprecedented step of guaranteeing workers time off with pay to attend Masses the pope will perform.

Each morning, beginning Thursday, the pope will travel to a provincial city -- Santa Clara, Camaguey, Santiago de Cuba -- for an open-air Mass, and then return to the capital for afternoon events.

In Havana, he will meet with Castro and other Cuban leaders Thursday and officiate at a Mass on Sunday in the Plaza of the Revolution, an event that may draw a half-million or more Cubans, in a grand finale to a week that many here hope will change their country forever.

On a brief meeting with reporters on the way to Havana, John Paul urged the United States to change the long-standing economic embargo imposed on Cuba after Castro took power.

John Paul also told reporters that Castro's revolution has improved education and health in Cuba but that the regime needs to make "progress in the order of human freedom."

Havana Bureau Chief Lucia Newman and Correspondent Christiane Amanpour contributed to this report.

Follow the Pope's visit day-by-day:   Day 1  |  Day 2  |  Day 3  |  Day 4  |  Day 5

Icons at the Crossroads  |  Cuba and Catholicism  |  An Exile Returns
Testing the Embargo  |  Live Webcasts  |  The Struggling Revolution  |  Related links

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