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The Catedral de La Habana hosted a Mass of thanksgiving on Friday for the first anniversary of the papacy of Pope León XIV, in a ceremony that brought together dozens of worshippers and two members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba, as reported by Canal Caribe.
The event coincided with the meeting of the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, with the Pope at the Vatican, where they held a 45-minute private audience that discussed, among other topics, Cuba and Venezuela.
The Eucharist was presided over by the Apostolic Nuncio in Cuba, Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, and co-celebrated by the Archbishop of Havana, Juan de la Caridad García, and Monsignor Arturo González Amador, president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba.
Among the attendees were Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, both members of the Political Bureau, along with Caridad Diego Bello, head of the Office for Attention to Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the PCC.
In his homily, Monsignor Camilleri described the pontiff with these words: "We recognize in him a distinctly pastoral style, characterized by closeness, simplicity, and immediacy in communication."
The nuncio also emphasized the 90 years of uninterrupted diplomatic relations between Cuba and the Holy See: "They have established a continuous channel of dialogue, respect, and cooperation for the common good."
The ceremony concluded with the singing of the national anthems of Cuba and the Holy See, as well as prayers for the pontificate of Leo XIV, the Universal Church, and the Cuban Church, asking God to bless the country "with peace, harmony, and a future full of hope."
The diplomatic context surrounding the celebration is complex. In February, Chancellor Rodríguez Parrilla traveled to the Vatican as a special envoy of Díaz-Canel to meet with León XIV amid heightened tensions due to an executive order from Trump aimed at obstructing fuel supplies to Cuba.
During his visit last Thursday, Rubio proposed increasing humanitarian aid to Cuba channeled through the Catholic Church, reaffirming the Vatican's role as a historical mediator between Washington and Havana.
Rubio's visit also aimed to ease tensions between the Trump administration and the Holy See, following Trump's harsh public attacks on the Pope in April, when he referred to him as "weak" and "terrible in foreign policy."
León XIV, the first American pontiff in history, also has personal ties to Cuba: his maternal ancestors were born in Havana in the 18th century, and as the General Prior of the Augustinians, he visited the island in 2008, 2011, and 2019, even facilitating the return of that order after its expulsion in 1961.
On the very day of his anniversary, the Pope celebrated by visiting the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Pompeii in southern Italy, while Radio Reloj reported a statement from a Vatican source that summarizes the prevailing sentiment: "Cuba holds a place in the heart of Pope Leo XIV."
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