A trip to Cuba may be in the works for Pope Francis.
Pope Francis “is considering the idea of a Cuba leg” during his visit to the United States in September, according to Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.
However, the discussions about a visit to the island country are still in the preliminary stage and it is way too early to say a decision had been made either way, he said.
Pope Francis will visit Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia, marking his first trip to the U.S. Should he visit Cuba sometime during the trip, he would be the first pope to do so and the first since St. John Paul II visited in 1998.
A visit would also mark an important stage of the improving relationship between the U.S. and Cuba. Last summer, Pope Francis wrote letters to both President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro that helped lead to the eventual release of U.S. prison Alan Gross and the reopening of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Obama announced in December his administration would reopen diplomatic ties with Cuba — the first time since they were severed in 1961 during the Cuban Revolution. Last week, the White House moved to remove Cuba from its list of “state sponsors of terrorism.” An opening of an embassy in Cuba is soon to come, too.
Pope Francis, like his predecessors, has long called for an end to financial and travel restrictions by the U.S. on Cuba.
In one of his December letters, Pope Francis called for the two presidents “to resolve humanitarian questions of common interest, including the situation of certain prisoners, in order to initiate a new phase in relations.”
(h/t The Catholic Herald)
