Cuba’s figurehead president Miguel Díaz-Canel extended an invitation to Pope Leo XIV on Thursday to visit the communist-ruled nation during his official meeting with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations.
Archbishop Gallagher visited Cuba this week to commemorate the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the Vatican. The communist Castro regime, which has ruled Cuba for six decades, has an extensive track record of engaging in often violent religious persecution and imposing constant state surveillance against Catholics, members of other Christian denominations, and practitioners of other religions, especially those who fought against communism or have dissented against the murderous ideology.
The Castro regime, which took power forcefully in 1959, did not allow the construction of a new Catholic church in Cuba until 2015. At the time he rose to power, late communist dictator Fidel Castro declared Cuba to be an atheist state, a declaration rescinded in 1992.
More recently, the Castro regime banned Christian Cubans in Havana from celebrating the traditional Solemn Stations of the Cross on Palm Sunday, one of several traditions that Catholics commemorate during Holy Week. In 2024, the Castro regime banned several Catholic Holy Week processions from taking place across the country.
Despite the communist regime’s decades-long history of religious persecution, Díaz-Canel claimed in his Thursday meeting with Archbishop Gallagher that religious freedom is “respected and perfected” in the country. The figurehead president also claimed to acknowledge that Cuba’s nine-decade-long relations with the Vatican are “based on respect, with a high level of political dialogue, with systematic communication and which have been able to overcome obstacles over time.”
“We express once again the will to continue strengthening this constructive dialogue with the Holy See,” Díaz-Canel said. “We remain committed to continue respecting and perfecting religious freedom in Cuba, as proclaimed by our Constitution of the Republic, and based on the conquests we have been achieving in our relations with different churches.”
The figurehead president expressed to the Vatican’s representative the regime’s rejection of “the policy of the United States towards Cuba and the vision it has in relation to our country in the aspect of religion” and thanked the Holy See for the alleged support it has given to the Cuban people in the struggle against the United States’ “embargo” on Cuba.
Díaz-Canel, through Archbishop Gallagher, extended an invitation to Pope Leo XIV to visit Cuba, asserting that “it would be a pleasure for us to welcome him, and he will be treated as he deserves for his leadership at the head of the Catholic Church at the international level.”
Pope Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, visited Cuba in 2015. The pope’s visit did not deter the Castro regime from persecuting Catholics and dissidents before and during Pope Francis’s stay in Cuba. During his motorcade in Havana, Cuban activist Zaqueo Báez attempted to speak directly with the pope and was arrested and brutally beaten by Castro regime officials in front of the pontiff.
According to the Cuban presidency, Archbishop Gallagher, after recalling Pope Francis’ visit to Cuba, highlighted the “great feeling of affection” that the late pope had “for Cuba, for its people and also for Fidel and Raul [Castro].”
“We are happy to celebrate this commemoration of 90 years of diplomatic relations, which for us is important in the history of the Catholic Church,” Archbishop Gallagher said.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla highlighted the “solid relationship” between Cuba and the Holy See, “marked by mutual respect and cooperation, strengthened by the visits of Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis,” and the Havana-hosted encounter between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2016.
“At the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, we renew our will to strengthen the respectful, ethical and constructive dialogue that characterizes the relationship between the Holy See and the Republic of Cuba,” Rodríguez Parrilla said.
During his stay in Cuba, Archbishop Gallagher officiated a Mass at the Cathedral of Havana to mark the 90th anniversary of the relations between the Holy See and Cuba. According to Vatican News, Archbishop Gallagher “highlighted peace, justice and truth as foundational principles of both the Church’s missionary work and Vatican diplomacy.”
Vatican News reported:
Recalling Pope Francis’ words during his visit to Cuba, Gallagher noted the Pope’s desire for the country to follow ‘paths of justice, peace, freedom and reconciliation.’ During the celebration, Gallagher also invoked the intercession of Blessed Olallo Valdés, José López Piteira, and Venerable Félix Varela, asking that bonds of peace and mutual respect may continue to grow.
The outlet continued, “The Mass also offered thanks for the election of Pope Leo XIV, with Gallagher extending the Holy Father’s greeting to the Cuban people.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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