WHEN the visiting Vatican foreign minister, Jean Louis Tauran, celebrated Mass in Havana in late October, the congregation treated him to an ovation of cheers and applause at the end of the service.
As he left the church, shouts of libertad, libertad (freedom, freedom) were just audible amid the clamour. They were a reminder that Cuba's Roman Catholic Church is deeply engaged in the debate about the communist ruled island's political future. This engagement is likely to increase after the announcement on Tuesday by the Vatican that Pope John Paul will next year visit Cuba, one of the few remaining single party communist states in the world. The island is the only Spanish speaking country in Latin America the Pope has not visited.
The announcement followed a historic meeting in Rome between the 76 year old Pope and Cuba's veteran President Fidel Castro whose revolutionary government once nationalised Catholic schools and expelled foreign priests and nuns after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. The prospect of a papal visit to Cuba is all the more interesting considering the Pope's formidable reputation as an anti communist crusader.
Dr Castro's political foes said they were encouraged by the news. Despite the Vatican's declared opposition to the US economic embargo against Cuba, the US State Department said the Pope could play a role in promoting democratic change and protecting human rights in Cuba. Many right wing Cuban exiles take a similar view.
None of this potential drama was visible at Tuesday's meeting. Dr Castro, who turned 70 this year and was educated by Jesuits, behaved with all the meekness of a child making his first communion. He praised the Pope for his "greatness", described himself as a "modest politician" and said their meeting was a "miracle".
But many Cuban Catholics still remember the early years of the revolution, when Dr Castro accused leaders of the Cuban Catholic church, the dominant religion on the island, of siding with "counter revolution". He later created an atheistic singleparty communist state that virtually excluded Catholics from political life for three decades. Nevertheless, diplomatic ties with the Vatican were maintained. Catholic Church activity, although greatly reduced from pre 1959 levels, continued.
In the last decade, Havana has moved to improve relations with religious groups. Constitutional changes in 1992 lifted the ban on religious believers joining the Communist party.
In the post cold war world, where Dr Castro no longer enjoys the economic and political support of his former Soviet bloc allies, he would clearly prefer to have the Catholic Church as a friend rather than an enemy.
The Cuban leader sees the Vatican as a potential ally in his international campaign to overturn the longstanding US economic embargo against Cuba. The Catholic church has openly criticised the US embargo, arguing it only hurts the Cuban people.
However, reconciliation with the Catholic Church could represent a political risk for Dr Castro.
While careful to avoid direct confrontation, the Church is an outspoken, influential, independent force in Cuba, a position which directly challenges the communist government's monopoly of political power in Cuban society.
Earlier this year, Cuba's Catholic bishops, led by Cardinal Jaime Ortega, angered government leaders by criticising an official crackdown against political dissidents and the February 24 shooting down by Cuban MiGs of two small US aircraft. In the past they have attacked the monopolistic official ideology and widespread curbs on personal freedoms.
Despite the recent thaw in relations, the government has made clear it will not allow the Catholic church to become a focal point of open opposition.