Pope claims source of Cuban identity is Catholicism

In Havana last night, Pope John Paul said Catholicism was "the source of the rich values of Cuban identity".

Speaking at the university in Havana at a meeting with people from the country's cultural life, which was also attended by President Fidel Castro, he described a certain Catholic priest as "the veritable father of Cuban culture".

The priest he referred to, Father Felix Varela, had supported Cuba's struggle for independence from the Spanish during the last century and was, according to the Pope, someone considered by many to be "the foundation stone of Cuban national identity".

The anti-clericalism of some in Cuba at the time, he said, was not truly representative of what has distinguished the [Cuban] people. Father Varela, he said, was inspired by a profound Christian spirituality and had judged democracy to be "the political project best in keeping with human nature".

He also referred in his address to the writer and symbol of Cuban independence from the last century, Jose Marti, who, he said, was also "deeply committed to democracy and independence".

"I am sure the Cuban people have inherited the human virtues, Christian in origin, of both these men, since also Cubans share in common that culture which these men nourish," he said.

Earlier yesterday in Camaguey, Pope John Paul told tens of thousands of young people: "Do not leave for tomorrow the building of a new society in which the noblest dreams are not frustrated and in which you can be the principle agent of your own history."

The Pontiff said in a letter to Cuban youth: "Economic embargoes. . . are always deplorable because they hurt the most need". The letter was released at the end of the Mass.

Speaking of fidelity as one of the characteristics of Christian identity, he pleaded: "Dear young people, whether you are believers or not, accept the call to be virtuous."

He also said the Church had a duty to provide a moral, civic and religious formation "which will help the youth of Cuba to grow in human and Christian values".

A tired pontiff told the "dear young people of Cuba" that they were "the hope of the Church and of your homeland". He asked them to remember that the human person and respect for the human person was the path to a new world, and that both the world and humanity were "deprived of their life breathe" if they were not open to Jesus Christ.

He called on them to open their hearts to Christ and thus start out on a new life of harmony with God, "which responds to your legitimate aspirations to truth, goodness, and beauty".

"May Cuba raise your children in virtue and freedom so that your nation will enjoy a future of authentic, integral, human development in an environment of lasting peace," he said.