AP WAS THERE: Pope John Paul II arrives in Cuba

FILE - In this Jan. 21, 1998 file photo, Cuba's President Fidel Castro, and Pope John Paul II check the time during a welcoming ceremony in Havana, Cuba. Havana workers were given the afternoon off, on a sunny 80-degree day. Tens of thousands of Cubans, organized by neighborhood and workplace, lined the 12-mile route from the airport. Some sang hymns and waved tiny yellow and white Vatican flags and the red, white and blue Cuban banner. The Cuban president himself, a diehard Marxist-Leninist, urged people to turn out for the island's first papal visit ever. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia, File)

By Associated Press September 19, 2015 6 min read

HAVANA (AP) – EDITOR’S NOTE: On Jan. 21, 1998, Pope John Paul II became the first Catholic pontiff to visit Cuba, and more than 20 AP writers, editors, photographers and TV staffers arrived to cover the historic visit.

Victor L. Simpson, then the AP’s Vatican correspondent, traveled with John Paul on the trip, which culminated on Jan. 25 with a Mass in Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution.

Seventeen years later, as Pope Francis prepares to visit the island, the AP is again making this report about John Paul’s arrival available, along with photos.

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Welcomed by President Fidel Castro and multitudes of Cuba’s hard-pressed but hopeful people, Pope John Paul II began a historic pilgrimage Wednesday to this island of embattled faith and struggling revolution.