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                     Pope Ending Cuba Visit, Heading to US

   by VOA News

   Pope Francis will travel to the United States Tuesday after celebrating
   a third and final Mass on the communist island of Cuba.

   The pontiff will celebrate Mass at the shrine of Cuba's patron saint,
   the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre. Francis traveled to the shrine
   shortly after arriving in Santiago late Monday and delivered a brief
   prayer of reconciliation for the "children scattered around the world."

   He appeared to be in discomfort during his visit to the shrine; the
   78-year-old pope suffers from a condition called sciatica that causes
   intense pain in the lower back and down the leg.

   Francis arrived in Santiago after celebrating Mass earlier Monday in
   the eastern Cuban city of Holguin, telling tens of thousands of people
   to heed Jesus's invitation to overcome resistance to change.

   ''

   Holguin, Cuba's third-largest city, has been a cradle of the Catholic
   faith on the island and is known for a cross that has overlooked the
   town for centuries.  It is also the home region of communist leaders
   Fidel and Raul Castro who have ruled Cuba since 1959.

   Pope Francis met with the brothers in Havana at the start of his Cuban
   trip.

   Dissidents

   Meanwhile, several leading dissidents have criticized the pope for not
   accepting their requests to meet him during his visit.

   The head of the opposition group Ladies in White said 22 of 24 members
   of her group who wanted to attend Sunday's Mass in Havana were
   prevented from going by Cuban security agents.

   ''And two other well-known Cuban dissidents told The Associated Press
   that agents detained them after the Vatican invited them to the pope's
   vespers service at Havana's cathedral.

   Marta Beatriz Roque and Miriam Leiva said they received invitations
   from the office of the papal ambassador in Havana but said they were
   arrested as they tried to travel to the cathedral.

   Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said that some dissidents
   were invited to events to receive a greeting from the pope but that he
   didn't know why the greeting didn't take place.

   Asked if the Holy See would lodge an official protest, Lombardi
   demurred, saying it was a "passing greeting," not an official meeting.

   The dissident Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National
   Reconciliation estimated 50 dissidents were detained and prevented from
   attending papal events, with most released within a few hours.

   But the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), the country's largest
   dissident group, said four of its activists remained in jail as of late
   Sunday. Those four had attempted to deliver a letter to the pope, one
   of whom got close enough to make contact with Francis in his
   popemobile, UNPACU leader Jose Daniel Ferrer said.

   Pope's role in US-Cuba relations

   Francis and Vatican officials were the force behind months of secret
   talks between Havana and Washington in 2014. The talks climaxed with
   last year's announcements by Raul Castro and U.S. President Barack
   Obama to reestablish diplomatic ties for the first time in 53 years.
   They have since opened embassies in Washington and Havana.

   Francis praised the détente between the two long-estranged neighbors
   as "an example of reconciliation for the entire world" that "fills us
   with hope."

   President Obama and his wife Michelle, along with Vice President Joe
   Biden and his wife Jill, will greet Pope Francis when he arrives at
   Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington Tuesday afternoon.

   His U.S. schedule includes a private meeting with Obama, speaking to a
   joint meeting of Congress, and addressing the U.N. General Assembly in
   New York.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/pope-ending-cuba-visit-heading-to-us/2973522.html