Ladies in White leader casts doubt on Castro’s sincerity

Berta Soler, leader of Cuba’s Ladies in White human-rights movement, has dismissed President Raúl Castro’s assertion that he might become Catholic again as “a joke”.

Mr Castro made the comments last weekend after a 50-minute meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Last year Francis was instrumental in facilitating a rapprochement between Havana and Washington after more than half a century of deadlock.

Castro said he had read all Pope Francis’ speeches and declared himself “very impressed with the wisdom and modesty” of the Pope.

“If the Pope continues in this vein I will start to pray again and return to the Catholic Church – I’m not joking,” he said after the meeting with Francis.

Soler’s Ladies in White have been campaigning for the release of political prisoners and other causes for 12 years. She said of Castro that he was “mocking the Holy Father when he said that he might return to the bosom of the Church. He has never believed in Christ and he never will.”

Speaking to Spain’s Onda Cero radio station, Soler also said she was disappointed that the Pope had failed to raise with Castro the situation of political prisoners in Cuba.

Asked about this in London on Tuesday, the papal nuncio Antonio Mennini said it was impossible to be sure that the matter was not raised in the meeting. He recalled that while, during his visit to the island in 1998, Pope John Paul II requested and secured the release of several hundred dissidents, the following year saw a new clampdown by Fidel Castro in which hundreds more were detained and more than 20 executed. The Government introduced a new law against sedition in February 1999 with a maximum sentence of 20 years. “Sincerity”, Archbishop Mennini said on Tuesday, “is always an issue in diplomacy.”

Following his meeting with the Pope last weekend Castro declared that the situation in Cuba was “improving”. “I am from the Cuban Communist party, that didn’t allow [religious] believers, but now we are allowing it, it’s an important step,” he said.

Later this year the Pope will visit Cuba for four days from 19 to 22 September, before he travels on to Washington DC for a six-day US visit. Mr Castro said he promised to go “to all [Francis’] Masses in Cuba, gladly”. For its part the Vatican said in a statement following the meeting that the mood had been “very friendly”.

Raúl Castro made a point of expressing his gratitude for the part the Pope played in improving relations between Cuba and America. “I have come here to thank him for what he has done to solve the problems of the United States and Cuba,” said Castro.

Last year, the Vatican hosted delegations from the two countries and the Pope wrote to both presidents appealing to them to resolve their differences.