Vatican City, 22 September 2015 (VIS) –
At 4 p.m. local time (10 p.m. in Rome) Pope Francis departed by air
from Holguin for Santiago de Cuba, the country's second largest city
and rival to Havana in terms of its literary, musical and political
life. Santiago was founded in 1514 by Diego Velazquez and was the
island's capital from 1515 to 1617. Home of the “son”, the dance
that was the precursor to the “salsa”, its monuments include the
Castle of El Morro, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the
Basilica of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre. The city is currently
preparing to celebrate the fifth centenary of its foundation.
The Holy Father was received at the
Antonio Maceo airport by several hundred faithful and by the local
authorities, and transferred to the St. Basil the Great seminary. One
of the oldest educational institutions in Cuba, it was founded in
1722, nationalised and transformed into a public school in 1961, and
re-established as a seminary in 1997. There, Francis met privately,
without a prepared discourse, with the Cuban episcopate.
Following the meeting, Francis visited
the nearby national Shrine to Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, the
most venerated pilgrimage site in Cuba, whose history is closely
linked to the social and political events of the country. In 1606
three fishermen, two Indians and an African slave, found an image of
the Virgin floating in the waters of the bay of Nipe bearing the
phrase “I am the Virgin of Charity”. The image was taken to the
copper mines in the nearby town of El Cobre, where the first shrine
was built in 1684. In 1801 the “Manifesto for the freedom of the
slaves of the mines of El Cobre” was read at the Shrine, and in
1868 Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, pioneer of the abolition of slavery
and Cuban independence, made a pilgrimage to the Shrine and prayed
for the liberation of Cuba before the sacred image. On 12 July 1898 a
thanksgiving Mass was celebrated there for the liberation of the
island, attended by the officials of the Liberation Army, and in
1916, in view of the growing devotion on the part of the Cuban
people, Pope Benedict XV proclaimed “Our Lady of Charity of El
Cobre” the patroness of Cuba. In 1927 the current Shrine was
inaugurated and in 1936 the archbishop of Santiago de Cuba crowned
the Virgin as the Mother and Patroness of Cuba. In 1977, Blessed Paul
VI conferred to the Shrine the title of Minor Basilica.
The Pope and the archbishop of Santiago
de Cuba, Dionisio Guillermo Garcia Ibanez, along with the Cuban
bishops and the papal entourage, were received at the Basilica by the
rector. Francis knelt before the image, asking that her people
dispersed around the globe might be reunited. “Make the Cuban
nation a home of brothers and sisters, so that this people opens its
mind, heart and life to Christ, the sole Saviour and Redeemer”. He
also prayed to the Lord for families and for children and the young,
who are the wealth and hope of the country. Finally, he left before
the image a silver vase containing flowers in the colours of the
Vatican, yellow and white.
This afternoon, 22 September, the Holy
Father will celebrate Mass in the Basilica of Our Lady of El Cobre,
and then in the cathedral of Santiago where he will meet with Cuban
families and bless the city. He will then leave Cuba at 12.30 local
time (6.30 p.m. in Rome), destined for the United States of America,
where he will be received at the Andrews air base in Washington D.C.,
following a flight lasting three and a half hours.
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