Pope Benedict heads to Havana for mass, meetings

Pope Benedict XVI headed to Havana Tuesday to celebrate mass in the Cuban capital and possibly meet with the island's most famous inhabitant -- revolutionary and former president Fidel Castro. The pontiff's plane departed at 11:00 am (1600 GMT) from the city of Santiago de Cuba, where he held mass on Monday and visited a shrine Tuesday offering a prayer from those "deprived of freedom." A meeting has been planned between the 84-year old pontiff and President Raul Castro at the Palace of the Revolution, the seat of communist power. The pontiff's Cuba visit coincides with the 400th anniversary year of the discovery of a small wooden statue of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre floating in the water off the shores of eastern Cuba. In Havana, according to Vatican officials, the pope could meet the president's older brother, revolutionary icon Fidel Castro, 85, who has been out of power since 2006 but continues to have an active voice in politics. There has even been talk that the pontiff could cross paths here with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, on the Caribbean island since the weekend for a new round of cancer treatment. At the start of his visit to the communist-ruled country in Santiago on Monday, Benedict urged tens of thousands to construct a "renewed and open society" in Cuba. On Tuesday, before heading to the capital, the pope said a prayer at the beloved wooden statue of the virgin, patron saint of Cuba, asking that she help the country on its "path of renewal and hope." "I have come as a pilgrim to the house of the sacred image of our Lady of Charity," the pontiff said, as hundreds of faithful gathered outside the basilica where the relic is kept. "I have also prayed to the virgin for the needs of those who suffer, of those who are deprived of freedom, those who are separated from their loved ones or who are undergoing times of difficulty." The pontiff, on his first tour of Spanish-speaking Latin America and the first visit to Cuba by a pope in 14 years, is seeking to bolster closer church-state ties with Havana -- even as he urges the Americas' only one-party state to embrace change. Benedict called on inhabitants of this mainly secular island nation to embrace Catholic teachings, which for decades had been banned following the communist revolution, but have been tolerated since a thaw began a few years ago. Catholics account for just 10 percent of Cuba's population of about 11 million. The church nonetheless has emerged as the most important non-state actor in Cuba, even mediating prisoner releases. Benedict has no plans to meet with members of the Cuban opposition, a decision which has drawn criticism from dissidents, democracy advocates and some members of the media. Cuba's leadership insists that democracy already exists here, and sees the papal visit as a way to show to the world that it is tolerant and open to religious expression. But authorities reportedly rounded up at least 150 dissidents in the days leading up to the papal visit, to thwart any possible demonstrations during the two-city papal visit.   After John Paul II's 1998 visit, expectations were high that the charismatic Polish pontiff might help spark change in Cuba after decades of central-run government, economy and media. But more than a decade later the country remains isolated, its state-run economy feeble and most Cuban workers struggling on a paltry salary of just $20 a month. Pilgrims who traveled to Cuba from around the region to see the pope included some from Florida in the United States, home to the world's largest concentration of Cuban exiles. Activist exiles in Key West, Florida, were dispatching a flotilla, which was due to arrive off Cuba around dusk. The "Democracy Lights of Liberty" flotilla was planning to sail to a destination 12 miles away from Cuban shores, where they were to stage a fireworks show to welcome Benedict and demand that Cuban government to stop repressing dissenters. "It's a peaceful gesture in international waters," Ramon Saul Sanchez, one of the organizers, told AFP.