Pope Benedict XVI waves from his popemobile as he arrives for an open-air Mass in Revolution Square, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday March 28, 2012.HAVANA – Pope Benedict XVI demanded greater freedom for the Catholic Church in Cuba during Mass before hundreds of thousands of people today in the shrine of the island’s communist revolution, denouncing “fanaticism” that tries to impose its truth on others.
Benedict’s unusually politicized homily was a not-so-subtle jab at Cuba’s leadership before a vast crowd in Revolution Plaza. But he also used plain language to urge an end to Cuba’s isolation, a reference to the 50-year U.S. economic embargo and the inability of 11 American presidents and brothers Fidel and Raul Castro to forge peace.
“Cuba and the world need change, but this will occur only if each one is in a position to seek the truth and chooses the way of love, sowing reconciliation and fraternity,” he said.
With the country’s leadership listening from front-row seats, Benedict issued his strongest denunciation of religious intolerance yet in Cuba, referring to the Biblical account of how people persecuted by the Babylonian king “preferred to face death by fire rather than betray their conscience and their faith.”
He said people find freedom when they seek the truth that Christianity offers.