Cuba Relic Ends Mammoth Pilgrimage
Cuba's patron saint wrapped up a 16-month pilgrimage here Friday ahead of a papal visit early next year to mark the 400th anniversary of the relic's legendary discovery.
The statue of Our Lady of Charity, the patroness of Cuba, has criss-crossed 28,000-kilometers (18,000 miles) of the communist Caribbean island since beginning its tour in August 2010.
The long journey from the relic's sanctuary in the eastern town of El Cobre will climax later Friday with a huge public mass in central Havana.
The tour, the first such event since 1951-52, comes ahead of a visit by Pope Benedict XVI timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the relic's discovery. The pontiff is expected in March, although no date has been set.
His predecessor made a historic visit to Cuba in January 1998. On it, John Paul II, seen as instrumental in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, urged the Castro regime to open up, saying the world would return the favor.
More than a decade later, Cuba's one-party communist regime, the only one in the Americas, is still intact and maintains a firm grip over almost every aspect of Cuban life.
There are, though, signs of change. President Raul Castro ushered in sweeping economic reforms in 2011 that should give Cubans greater control of private property, and dialogue with the Church has certainly increased.
"We give thanks to God because times have changed," Cardinal Jaime Ortega told a crowd gathered for a concert Wednesday to honor the patron saint outside Havana cathedral.
The Havana archbishop noted that Cubans had experienced a "different" Christmas this year thanks to "the message of reconciliation and peace" expressed by the relic's pilgrimage across the country.
Church authorities say five million Cubans, out of a total population of 11.2 million, came to pay tribute to Our Lady of Charity during its epic journey.
According to legend, the statue of the Virgin Mary cradling the baby Jesus in her left arm was found by local fishermen off eastern Cuba after a tremendous storm in 1612 -- the figure was bone dry despite the tempest.
Since reaching Havana on November 1, the relic has been displayed in more than 300 public sites -- schools, hospitals, universities, prisons -- even on Revolution Square, reserved for major celebrations of the Castro regime.
Several members of the Cuban Communist Party, which until 1991 barred practicing Catholics from its ranks, attended the various celebrations.
The pilgrimage grew out of a rare dialogue begun in May 2010 between the 73-year-old Ortega, head of the Cuban Catholic Church for nearly 30 years, and 80-year-old Castro, who took over the reins of power in 2006 when his brother Fidel stepped down for health reasons.
The dialogue also led to the release of more than 130 political prisoners, most of whom were sent to exile in Spain, the opening of a seminary and various cultural centers by the Catholic Church and to a second papal visit.
In marked contrast with the early years of the revolution when priests were sent to labor camps, or with the difficult cohabitation of the 1970s and 1980s, the Catholic Church is today the government's sole political partner.
The thaw began in the 1990s, with Catholics being allowed in 1991 to join the Communist Party, which a year later officially switched from atheism to secularism.
Ties markedly improved with John Paul II's visit here 14 years ago when Fidel Castro donned a Western-style suit rather than his trademark military fatigues to greet him.
Since then, the communist regime has respected the church's social space and dialogue, and in exchange the Catholic hierarchy has backed the slow process of government reforms begun in 2006.
Last week, the Cuban president said Benedict XVI would be welcomed in Cuba "with affection and respect."
Catholics today make up a little over 10 percent of the Cuban population, with the vast majority practicing Santeria, a fusion of west African religious beliefs, native Indian traditions and some aspects of Catholicism.
