Pope Francis is on the ground in Cuba. He arrived on Saturday afternoon after a nearly twelve-hour flight from Rome. Upon dis-embarking from the volo papale, Francis was greeted by Cuban President Raul Castro and representatives of the Cuban Episcopal Conference.

At the start of his extraordinary visit to the land of Our Lady of El Cobre, here are four takeaways from the Pope’s opening remarks.

First, Pope Francis arrives in Cuba on the side of the people, not necessarily the government. 

At the opening of his cordial remarks to Cuban President Raul Castro, Pope Francis drew a distinction between the Cuban government and the Cuban people. One reading of the Pope’s comments would place “Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of Havana, the Most Reverend Dionisio Guillermo Garcia Ibanez, Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba and President of the Episcopal Conference, the other bishops and all the Cuban people” as well as, perhaps, “all those who worked to prepare for this Pastoral Visit,” on one side of that distinction, and President Raul Castro and his brother, chief representatives of Cuba’s oppressive Communist regime, on the other side of it.

In this connection, it is worth noting that Pope Francis first greeted the Cuban people and the Church journeying alongside and with it, before he went on to greet the government and its representatives. Further, it is interesting that Pope Francis identified himself “as a son and pilgrim” of Our Lady of El Cobre, the Patroness of Cuba. That is, he put himself on the side of the people, not the Communist government. In fact, he said that, “In these days [he] will have occasion to go to El Cobre, as a son and pilgrim, to pray to our Mother for all her Cuban children and for this beloved nation, that it may travel the paths of justice, peace, liberty and reconciliation.”

A close reading of the Pope’s remarks suggest he is in Cuba as one of the people, not as an advocate of the government’s regime.

Second, Pope Francis is mindful of the government officials who make his visit possible. But, he is especially mindful of those suffering beneath and on account of the Communist regime.

In his opening remarks, he spoke diplomatically to Cuban President Raul Castro. But, he kept such cordiality in check. While he wanted to “convey [his] sentiments of particular respect and consideration to” Fidel Castro, he did not neglect the victims of the Castro regime. He said he “would like [his] greeting to embrace especially all those who, for various reasons, [he] will not be able to meet, and to Cubans throughout the world.” The reference was to (1) Cuban dissidents and promoters of democratic justice and peace who will be impeded from meeting the Pope during his visit to Cuba and (2) to all those who form the Cuban disaspora.

Not only is Pope Francis in Cuba with and for the people. But, he is also there in memory of those suffering beneath the burden of Communism.

Third, Pope Francis sees his visit to Cuba in light of the Church’s history, not the Marxist narrative Cuban President Raul Castro intoned in his opening remarks.

Pope Francis put his visit in a particular historical context. First, he made reference to the “eightieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Cuba and the Holy See.” Second, he noted the “unforgettable apostolic journeys which [his] predecessors, Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI, made to [the Cuban] island.” Third, he spoke of the “first centenary of Pope Benedict XV’s declaration of our Lady of Charity of El Cobre as Patroness of Cuba.” And, fourth, he linked his visit to the “process of normalizing relations between two peoples following years of estrangement.”

Within this context, Pope Francis was mindful of the deep historical friendship that exists between the Holy See, the person of the Holy Father, and the Cuban people. That relationship, so meaningful to the universal Church, pre-exists the rise of the Castro regime. 

In placing his visit in this context, Pope Francis was reminding the Cuban people that the Church he shepherds has stood at their side longer than the Communist regime.

Fourth, Pope Francis claims a character and vocation for Cuba that liberates it from the closed-ness of the Marxist-Communist agenda. 

The Holy Father spoke of the character and destiny of Cuba and its people, noting that it is “an archipelago, facing all directions, with an extraordinary value as a ‘key’ between north and south, east and west.” This ‘key’ makes it possible for Cuba’s “natural vocation … to be a point of encounter for all peoples to join in friendship, as Jose Marti dreamed, ‘regardless of the languages of isthmuses and the barriers of oceans.’” But, the Pope – reiterating the words of Pope St. John Paul II – called upon Cuba, “with all its magnificent potential, [to] open itself to the world,” and indeed the world to Cuba.

With these words, Pope Francis could be seen to be discerning an encounter between Cuba and the larger world that will broaden its horizons and raise its spirits. 

Pope Francis arrives in Cuba today as one advocate of that encounter. The coming days will see it unfold. Stay tuned!