“El Papa está en la plaza!” The Pope is in the plaza.
What followed was the definition of organized chaos as people gently bumped and knocked each other while trying to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis as he waved to the assembled crowd from his popemobile and smiled along with a super catchy personalized theme song for the occasion. Based on the atmosphere of elation and praise as Mass then began (and surrounding the Pope’s visit in general), you would never guess that Cuba is not a predominantly Catholic country. There was a kind of energy that I had not felt since arriving in Cuba—and haven’t felt in the weeks since—that I could not identify.
Following the revolution in 1959 and its subsequent ideological commitment to Communism, religion took a back seat in Cuban society, and Catholicism lost much of the influence that it had enjoyed since the arrival of the Spaniards in the late fifteenth century. The Catholic Church in Cuba today has a fraction of the following that it used to boast, and major religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter are not officially recognized nor widely celebrated. In fact, religion in Cuba is often primarily associated with Santeria, a polytheistic, Afro-Caribbean religion that many liken to Vodou.
Consequently, the Pope is not much of a religious figure for many of the Cuban people. However, what I’ve learned is that he is a respected political one, and recently, Pope Francis has done much in the realm of international politics to gain the favor of the Cuban population. Specifically, he is largely responsible for bringing about the change in relations between Cuba and the United States, and he has been outspoken about his desire to see the American embargo against Cuba lifted, a fact that was central in that morning’s Mass. In his benediction, Pope Francis stressed the need to do more diplomatically to lift the bloqueo (“blockade,” the term Cubans use to refer to the embargo) because of the harsh economic and social parameters that it has imposed upon the Cuban people. The effects of the embargo have made it so that average Cubans cannot easily access anything not grown or made on the island, which, unfortunately, is a lengthy list of items being that Cuba is a small, island nation without a wide variety of resources at its disposal. This includes affordable food, reliable and safe machinery, modern technology with all its benefits, new cars (hence all the striking photos of old American cars), life-saving medications/medical treatments, etc. The list goes on.
Now, more than three weeks later, the religious fanfare has subsided and daily life has resumed. The only visible evidence of the Pope’s visit are the occasional promotional announcement or sticker from the weeks leading up to his arrival lingering on walls and gates, not dissimilar to the Christmas lights that remain strung upon houses in the United States long after Christmas is over. However, what Pope Francis leaves behind is more than just the intermittent poster. He leaves behind a sense of optimism regarding the embargo that the Cuban people have not felt in decades. He leaves behind the comfort of knowing that they have an ally willing to fight to help make their lives better in a way that few else have bothered to do. He leaves behind the faith that things can and do get better when peace is the objective. Most of all, though, he leaves behind that which sparked the energy that I felt during Mass that I was originally unable to identify: hope. Hope for their nation, hope for their future, hope for themselves. He has allowed a nation and a people to begin to hope again. And that will never be forgotten—Catholic or not.
Nicole "Nikki" Wadley graduated from Georgetown College in 2017 with a major in history and concentrations in the Latin American and European regions. She studied in Havana, Cuba during the fall 2015 semester and blogged for the Junior Year Abroad Network. She enjoyed exploring the thoughts of the Cuban people as relations continue to thaw between their country and the United States.
