Stoic Cubans sent to Mass

There was a strange air as the tens of thousands awaited the Pope in Santa Clara, Cuba, yesterday. Lines and lines of people stood along the "Popemobile" route to the Manuel Fajardo Higher Institute playing fields, where he was to offer Mass.

There was an atmosphere of stoic duty rather than excited anticipation. Most seemed to have been given the day off work just to be there. All through the lines were men and women wearing badges; they were stewards, one woman explained, and at one point there seemed more of them than ordinary Mass-goers.

Houses along the way carried pictures of the Pope shaking hands with Dr Fidel Castro at that now famous meeting in the Vatican in November 1996. So widespread is this poster that it appears that one at least was given to every Cuban household.

Almost as common were large signs welcoming "His Holiness Pope John Paul II" and a few proclaiming "Totus Tuus". At the playing fields, a crowd estimated at 50,000 was gathered.

They listened as a choir sang hymns to Latin American airs, accompanied by an electric organ and boosted by a powerful public address system. On a hillside overlooking the fields there was a huge mural of the Pope, flanked on each side by great banners in the Cuban and Vatican colours, while below them broad streamers, suspended on wires between the towers of floodlights, unfurled in a stiff breeze.

The people below were being led by an enthusiastic warm-up man in chants of Juan Pablo! Juan Pablo! At each beat in the rhythm they thrust up a forest of hand-held Vatican and Cuban flags.

Noticeably, when the warm-up man began the Hail Mary, they did not join in. Indeed, during the Mass itself, it was soon very clear they were unfamiliar with the responses. They remained silent but respectful. The altar was modest and under a thatched covering, with what looked and sounded like a larger-than-usual salsa band between it and a large choir, which stood out brilliantly in its white and yellows.

When the Pope arrived, he was greeted with a warmth comparable with the rapidly rising temperatures of another hot Cuban day. The chant "John Paul, friend, the people are with you" (which rhymes and sounds better in Spanish) was repeated with great enthusiasm. It all settled into relative calm for a Mass which included an alleliua in the lively salsa style.

During the Pope's sermon, the crowd applauded, but the applause was led from above by some people nearest the microphone. These became particularly animated when the pontiff called on the people of Cuba to open their families and schools to the values of the Gospel and when he called on Cubans to care for their families in order to keep their hearts pure.