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We do not serve ideas, pope tells Cubans
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POPE Francis delivered mass before hundreds of thousands of fans and faithful on Havana’s iconic Revolution Square yesterday, calling on Cubans to serve the most downtrodden and warning them that “service is never ideological.”
The pope did not directly address Cuba’s political situation or the nascent rapprochement he helped broker between the country and the United States, the next stop on his most high-profile trip to date.
But he warned against both ideology and an every-man-for-himself mentality.
“Christians are constantly called to set aside their own wishes and desires, their pursuit of power, and to look instead to those who are most vulnerable,” he told the crowd, speaking beneath a towering sculpture of his fellow Argentine Che Guevara’s iconic silhouette.
“We need to be careful not to be tempted by another kind of service, a ‘service’ which is ‘self-serving,’” he said. “Service is never ideological, for we do not serve ideas, we serve people.”
He paid tribute to Cubans as “a people with a taste for parties, for friendship, for beauty.”
“It is a people which has its wounds, like every other people, yet knows how to stand up with open arms, to keep walking in hope,” he said.
Hundreds of excited Cubans and foreign visitors camped out overnight on the square to see the first Latin American pope.
As he arrived, the pontiff leaned out from his white open-air vehicle to grasp the hands of festive onlookers and wave to the crowds.
Cuban President Raul Castro and Argentine President Cristina Kirchner were among those in attendance.
The pope is following in the footsteps of his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI — a remarkable amount of papal attention in 17 years for a country where only 10 percent of the population describe themselves as Catholic.
“It’s very exciting to see Pope Francis. He’ll be the third pope I’ve managed to see, but I’ve never been so close. We’re all hoping to receive his mercy,” said Maria Prieto, 56, who sang in a choir that performed during the ceremony.
The pope’s eight-day tour, which will take him on his first visit to the US, follows the announcement of the US-Cuban rapprochement, which paved the way for the estranged neighbors to renew diplomatic relations in July.
Francis, who arrived in Havana on Saturday and heads to Washington tomorrow, helped facilitate that moment in secret negotiations.
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