Pope Francis Is Credited With a Crucial Role in U.S.-Cuba Agreement - NYTimes.com

 

The Vatican’s most senior official after the pope, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state, moderated the October meeting after the two countries sought out the Vatican as a trusted broker near the conclusion of their negotiations.

For Francis, the breakthrough on Wednesday burnished his efforts to reposition the Vatican as a broker in global diplomacy. He has already waded into Middle East protests, hosting a prayer summit meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian presidents that bore few tangible results. Soon afterward, Israel began its military assault against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, in Gaza.

But Francis has quickly become one of the world’s leading figures, and his role in the United States-Cuba breakthrough undoubtedly is tied to his status as the first Latin American pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

“He knows the Cuban situation by heart,” said Gianni La Bella, a professor of contemporary history and an expert in Latin American Catholicism, as well as a member of the Community of Sant’Egidio, a liberal Catholic group active in international affairs. “He visited when he was a cardinal and has a strong relationship with the archbishop of Havana, who is obviously a strategic player in this.”

In April, the Vatican and Cuba celebrated 79 years of diplomatic relations as they jointly staged a photography exhibition at a church in Rome. Although the Vatican has had problems with Havana, it steadfastly opposes the American embargo and has kept diplomatic lines open.

Fidel Castro visited the Vatican in 1996 and met with Pope John Paul II. Two years later, John Paul visited Cuba, where he criticized the embargo as causing hardship for ordinary people and called for it to be rescinded. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, also visited Cuba, in 2012.

“I was in Cuba for almost two years, and I understand what this news means to the island,” said Msgr. Angelo Becciu, once the Vatican’s ambassador to Cuba. “It opens new scenarios and gives great hope to all Cuban people. The cease of the embargo will encourage and revitalize the island’s perspectives, as well as its economy.”

After he became pope in 2013, Francis was expected to revitalize the church in the Southern Hemisphere. But his background has also helped the Vatican reposition itself as an independent actor in diplomacy, less tethered to European or American worldviews than in the past.

Francis’s appointment of Cardinal Parolin as secretary of state was also significant. Long considered one of the Vatican’s most talented diplomats, Cardinal Parolin served as apostolic nuncio in Venezuela, one of Cuba’s closest allies. From that perch, Cardinal Parolin gained a sophisticated understanding of regional dynamics and the Cuban predicament, Professor La Bella said.

Pope Francis Is Credited With a Crucial Role in U.S.-Cuba Agreement - NYTimes.com