Pope John Paul II Issues a Declaration in the Wake of the First Ever Papal Visit to Cuba, in Which He Met With Fidel Castro, Announcing the Expansion of the Church There (This visit resulted in more freedom for the Catholic Church in Cuba, a decision to allow public Christmas celebrations, and a more prominent role for religious dissent in the public sphere)

The Bull also announces the establishment of a new archdiocese in Cuba, to be headed by an archbishop?This is our first ever declaration of Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul II made a historic, first-ever papal visit to Cuba from January 21?25, 1998, delivering a message of hope, freedom and social justice while also criticizing the communist system and capitalist forces. During the visit, the Pope met with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in a highly publicized event that included a private meeting with the two men later expressing mutual respect. The visit also included a large Mass in Havana's Plaza of the Revolution, and it resulted in more freedom for the Catholic Church in Cuba, a decision to allow public Christmas celebrations, and a more prominent role for religious dissent in the public sphere.The visit was seen as a significant cultural and religious event, renewing the faith of many Catholics and fostering a greater sense of hope and openness within the country. It also marked a turning point in Catholic-Cuban relations, laying the groundwork for subsequent papal visits and efforts to foster dialogue and reconciliation.The Pope?s welcome ceremony address stated, ?I thank God, the Lord of history and of our personal destinies, that he has enabled me to come to this land which Christopher Columbus called "the most beautiful that human eyes have seen". Arriving on this island, where the cross of Christ was raised over 500 years ago ? the same cross zealously treasured today in the parish church of Baracoa, in the extreme eastern part of the country - I greet everyone with warm affection.?This happy and long-awaited day has finally arrived, and I am able to answer the invitation which the Cuban Bishops made a long time ago, and which the President of the Republic had also made and personally reiterated on the occasion of his visit to the Vatican in November 1996. I am filled with happiness to be able to visit your country, being among you and sharing these days of faith, hope and love. I am pleased to address my greetings in the first place to the President, Dr Fidel Castro Ruz, who has kindly come here to meet me and to whom I wish to express my thanks for his words of welcome??I cordially greet my Brothers in the Episcopate; in particular Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of Havana, and each of the other Cuban Bishops, as well as those who have come from other countries to take part in the events of this Pastoral Visit and to renew and strengthen, as on so many other occasions, the close bonds of communion and love between their particular Churches and the Church in Cuba. In this greeting, my heart goes out with great affection also to the beloved priests, deacons, men and women religious, catechists and faithful, to whom I belong in the Lord as Shepherd and Servant of the Universal Church??With confidence in the Lord and feeling very close to the beloved sons and daughters of Cuba, I thank you with all my heart for this warm welcome with which my Pastoral Visit is beginning. I commend this visit to the maternal protection of the Blessed Virgin of Charity of El Cobre. I cordially bless you all, especially the poor, the sick, the neglected and all those suffering in body or spirit. Praised be Jesus Christ!?The Pope issued a declaration on December 5, 1998, announcing the establishment of a new archdiocese with an archbishop there. This is that Bull, with the Pope?s signature and the original seal. "Document signed, Rome, December 15, 1998, "Johannes Paulus." "Seeking to provide for the greater spiritual good of their own Christian faithful, the Venerable Brothers of the sacred, Bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Saint Jacob in Cuba, having heard from the Conference of Bishops of that Nation, unanimously have requested from our Apostolic See that, because of the deducting of certain territories from the aforementioned Province, which stands out in terms of the number of faithful and number of suffragan di.