Pope has plans to visit Cuba on way to U. S.
WASHINGTON — Pope Francis, who has taken a public role in U. S.- Cuba relations, will visit Cuba on the way to the United States this fall, the Vatican announced Wednesday.
The United States and Cuba have been restoring diplomatic relations, which were severed in 1961 after the Cuban revolution. Last week, President Obama backed the removal of Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The pope is expected to make his first visit to the United States as pontiff in September, stopping in Washington, Philadelphia and New York City. He is scheduled to address a joint meeting of Congress, as well as the United Nations. Obama is also expected to host Pope Francis at the White House.
Pope Francis, who follows his predecessors Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II in visiting Cuba and calling for an end to U. S. travel and financial restrictions on the nation, wrote letters to Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro urging them to settle outstanding issues and clear the way for a deal.
The pope has proved to be a force in foreign policy and global affairs. He drew attention for recently using the term “genocide” for the 1915 mass killings of Armenians, which drew the condemnation of the Turkish president. He has pushed for diplomacy in Syria and decried the Islamic State and the deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. His forthcoming encyclical on ecology is expected to address the environment.
Before he was Pope Francis, the Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio served as archbishop of Buenos Aires, where he was a prominent member of the Episcopal Conference of Latin America.