Pope meets with Fidel Castro

Reuters reports that “Fidel Castro, the president’s older brother, visited Benedict at the Vatican embassy where the two octogenarian world leaders with widely divergent political views chatted for 30 minutes in what a Vatican spokesman called a “very cordial” atmosphere.

They discussed serious issues such as Church liturgy and the state of the world, but also joked about their age — Benedict is 84. At one point, Fidel Castro asked a simple question – what does a pope do?

“The pope told him of his ministry, his trips, and his service to the Church,” said spokesman Federico Lombardi

Photographs showed the elder Castro and the pope shaking hands and smiling, with Castro wearing a dark track suit and a scarf around his neck that seemed out of place on a warm day.

Witnesses said the former comandante arrived in a green Mercedes SUV with armed guards in a surrounding phalanx of black Mercedes sedans.

Two assistants helped Fidel Castro, who has been in frail health since 2006, out of the car, then up the steps of the stately white embassy in Havana’s Miramar district.

While RomeReportsTV writes, “The Pope has reportedly asked Cuban president Raul Castro, to declare Good Friday, a national holiday in Cuba. During the second day of his apostolic visit,  Benedict XVI met with president Raul Castro at Havana’s Revolution Palace. According to the Vatican’s spokesman, Federico Lombardi, it was on that very day, that the Pope issued the request to the president.

When John Paul II visited the country back in 1998, then president, Fidel Castro, declared Christmas a national holiday, at the request of the Pontiff.

It has also been confirmed that Fidel Castro will meet with Benedict XVI on Wednesday, before  celebrating Mass in Havana’s Revolution Square. 

The Cuban government has been criticized for marginalizing religion, but Benedict XVI hopes his visit will strengthen the faith of Cuban Catholics.