Pope Francis hails Cuba-US rapprochement

Pope Francis hailed the restoration of relations between the US and Cuba as a victory for the culture of engagement and dialogue after he landed in Havana for his first visit to the Communist island state.

Stepping off his flight from Rome, the pontiff was greeted by Cuban President Raul Castro who, during the welcome ceremony, thanked the Pope for helping to broker the re-establishment of relations between two Cold War foes divided for more than a half-century.

At Havana's José Martí airport, the Pope, the first pontiff from Latin America, called the rapprochement "an example of reconciliation for the whole world" and urged Havana and Washington to "persevere on the path" of the detente and "develop all its possibilities."

The arrival of Francis, the third pope to visit Cuba since a groundbreaking trip by Pope John Paul II in 1998, begins a nine-day visit that takes in Cuba and, from Tuesday, the US.

Francis played a key role in facilitating negotiations between the two long-time enemies that led to the historic thaw. He wrote to Presidents Barack Obama and Castro urging them to reconcile.

Senior Cuban and American officials met in secret for months at the Vatican before the leaders of the two countries stunned the world in December by announcing that they had agreed to repair relations.

Greeting the Pope, Mr Castro called for an end to the decades-long trade embargo imposed by the US on Cuba and the return of Guantanamo Bay, which the US has held for 113 years and is home to the notorious prison where it houses al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects.

He described the reestablishment of diplomatic relations as “a first step” in the normalisation of the relationship between the two countries that “will demand resolving problems and correcting injustices.”

The Cuban leader called the 53-year embargo “cruel, immoral and illegal.”

The Obama administration has asked Congress to lift the embargo and in a sign of further progress on the eve of the Pope's visit the US government eased up on sanctions on Cuba that permit US companies to open offices in Cuba and allow greater to travel to the island 90 miles from the US.

Pope Francis asked for the church in Cuba to have “the freedom and the means” to pursue its mission, a nod to the rebuilding of the Catholic Church’s own relationship with Cuba’s atheist regime.

He called for more support for Cuba’s Catholics so the church can “continue to support and encourage the Cuban people in its hopes and concerns,” with the freedom, the means and the space it needs.

The pontiff extended a greeting to Fidel Castro, the president's 89-year-old brother, and, in a reference to Cuban dissidents, all Cubans he "will not be able to meet" along with Cubans elsewhere in the world.

President Castro said that relations with the Catholic Church in Cuba were developing "in a gratifying atmosphere, the same as with every denomination and religious institution represented in the country that promote moral values recognised and enhanced by our nation."

During their remarks Castro and Francis both quoted the 19th century Cuban Catholic priest and independence leader Félix Varela who left Spanish-controlled Cuba to escape a death sentence in 1823 before settling later in New York where he learned Irish to help with the influx of immigrants fleeing Famine in Ireland.

Cheering crowds watched Francis descend to the tarmac in Havana at the start of his historic visit.

Young people chanted “This is the youth of Cuba” and “This is the youth of the Pope” following his remarks. It is estimated that more than 100,000 people watched the Pope’s motorcade from the airport to the Havana residence where he is staying.

He will say mass in Revolution Plaza today followed by a closed meeting with Raul Castro and possibly lunch with Fidel. The Pope flies to Cuba's fourth-largest city Holguin in the east of the country on Monday and then onto the nearby city of Santiago.

On his arrival in the US on Tuesday he will be greeted by President Obama and the first family at Joint Base Andrews, an air force base near the US capital before speaking at the United Nations in New York and attending a family conference in Philadelphia.