The Pope is on the move: today Holguin
(Vatican Radio) The head of Vatican Radio’s English Programme Sean Patrick Lovett is travelling with Pope Francis in Cuba. As he tells us:” Yesterday Havana. Today Holguin. Tomorrow Santiago de Cuba”. But let’s listen to his report:
Listen to Sean Patrick Lovett’s report from Cuba:
The Pope is on the move. ” Yesterday Havana. Today Holguin. Tomorrow Santiago de Cuba”.
And it was time. Time to change the narrative – from political to pastoral.
Inevitably the two days spent in the Cuban capital had strong political connotations, both in terms of who he met, who he didn’t meet, what he said, and what he didn’t.
But this visit is so much more than that. It goes beyond dissidents or peace talks in Colombia, beyond embargoes or even the Castro brothers. It is, first and foremost, a pilgrimage. And it truly got underway today in Holguin – on the Feast of the apostle and evangelist Saint Matthew.
There are no coincidences – certainly not where Pope Francis is concerned. If you really want to understand his pastor’s heart, then read his homily at the Mass in Plaza de la Revolución in Holguín. In it he recounts the story of the conversion of St Matthew. But, between the lines, he is telling the story of his own conversion – the “unlocking” of his own heart that took place in 1953, on the Feast of St Matthew, when Jorge Bergoglio was 17 years old. In the homily he speaks about mercy and mission, about joy and service, transformation, healing and hope (beginning to sound familiar?).
My favorite line is when he invites us to “…look beyond, not to be satisfied with appearances or with what is politically correct”…
By the way, you will also understand why, when he was consecrated Bishop, he chose the motto he did – the same motto he has kept as Pope: “Miserando atque eligendo”. Usually translated as “Lowly but Chosen”, the literal meaning in Latin reads: “By having mercy, by choosing him”. Not many people know that.
And the connections don’t end there. Why bother flying one and a half hours across the island from Havana to Holguín just to say Mass? Because no other Pope has, that’s why. Despite it being Cuba’s third largest city, it was not on the itinerary of either John Paul II when he visited in 1998, or Benedict XVI in 2012. And we all know how much Pope Francis loves the peripheries, the places (and the people) that are left out.
Tomorrow we’ll be in Santiago de Cuba for the culmination of this papal pilgrimage when Francis will celebrate another Mass and venerate Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, and where he will probably…
Oh, but don’t let me spoil the surprise. When you travel with Pope Francis you really do have to take it one day at a time, trust me.
With the Pope in Cuba – I’m Seán-Patrick Lovett