Cubans prepare for papal visit

Nancy Phelan Wiechec | CNS

Pope Benedict XVI will meet with Cuban President Raul Castro, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and bishops and Catholics from the region when he visits Mexico and Cuba in late March. He will also greet bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean as well as pray at the shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre in Cuba. It will be his third visit to the Americas after Brazil in 2007 and the United States in 2008.  The pope is scheduled to be in Leon, Mexico, March 23-26. After a three-and-a-half-hour flight to Cuba, he will be in Santiago de Cuba and Havana March 26-28. During his trip, Pope Benedict is scheduled to celebrate three outdoor Masses, including one marking the 400th anniversary of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, patroness of Cuba. In Mexico, he will have a special meeting with children and a vespers service with bishops from Latin America, and in Cuba he will make a private visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre. Right, a preservation artist works on the restoration of a statue of Mary at the Father Felix Varela Cultural Center in Havana.