After a long Saturday, the Pope will meet with bishops in the chapel of St. Martin, from the Seminary St. Carlos Borromeo, and then will visit the Curran-Fromhold Prison.

In the afternoon it is scheduled the mass that will close the activities of the World Meeting of Families, prelude to the Synod on the social institution, to be held in the Vatican from October 4 to 25.

The Pope will participate also on a visit to organizers, volunteers and benefactors of that event in the Atlantic Aviation, which will precede his departure for Rome, scheduled for 20:00 local time.

Francisco and will end the longest trip of his pontificate, since he arrived to the US on the 22nd from Cuba, where he carried out an intense pastoral visit which started the 19.

Yesterday, His Holiness celebrated a mass in the Cathedral St. Peter and Paul, of Philadelphia, where he praised the role of women in Catholicism again and called for greater involvement in the work of the Church of Catholic laymen “in a society that is rapidly changing.”

He asked before bishops and clergy for “a sense of shared partnership and responsibility in planning the future of our parishes and institutions” without implying “to renounce the spiritual authority entrusted to us.”

Also, this Saturday Francis came to the Independence Mall in Philadelphia- where in 1776 the Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies took place- where Francis again met tens of thousands of fans gathered to greet him and hear his message on immigration and religious freedom.

Finally, the Bishop of Rome attended the Festival of Families in the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

During this northern tour Francisco met with President Barack Obama at the White House, gave speeches before the Congress and the General Assembly of the United Nations, and paid tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The head of the Vatican State has made called to welcome immigrants, for the social inclusion in large cities, and an ideal of human progress based on solidarity and environmental protection, consultation and dialogue among nations, the elimination of nuclear weapons and war, among other issues.

A sample about the frustration of these media are holders of the Spanish newspaper “El Pais”, which instead of reflect what happened in Cuba, it highlighted what did not happen: “The Pope is not making any critical message to the Castro´s” (4) “The pope avoided any reference to the dissidents in his first act in Cuba” (5), “Silencing of Francisco” (6) or “Pope admits that he never thought meeting with Cuban dissidents” (7).

But the media didn´t conform to convert non- news in news. In addition, shamelessly manipulated the statements of the protagonists.

“El País” adulterated the message of a well-known supporter of the Cuban Revolution: the Brazilian Dominican friar Frei Betto (8). “In Cuba there may be a ‘shock ‘ between austerity and consumerism ” was the headline, focusing all the news in a brief reflection of Betto about the dangers of mass tourism from US on the island, which just took a few minutes to a long wheel press. For knowing all that “El Pais” condemned to their readers we must turn to the Cuban press, which reported about the reflection of the theologian (9), but also reflected other more central statements: for example, that the Cuban people “have pride to defend their revolution”, “whose values are similar to the “gospel values” of “solidarity (and) sharing of possessions”; or the recognition about the failure of the blockade by the United States as similar to “US defeat in Vietnam” (10).

The Spanish newspaper “El Mundo” did the same with the words of the Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez. “Silvio Rodriguez: we had to approach before to the United States” (11) was the headline of an interview, aimed Cuba as guilty of political “alienation” to US in recent years. But if we read the interview -realized in a written way as is the usual manner of the singer to avoid manipulations- we discover that what Silvio said was another thing: “the rapprochement between Cuba and the United States” (…) “had to happen before”. He didn´t mark out guilty explicitly. In any case, the position of this troubadour is well known. A few days ago, in his blog “Second Date”, he reminded the Cuban literacy killed by gangs paid by the CIA and how he “had to learn how to handle weapons” to defend “from their political and military” (referring to US) (12).

Other media even twisted the words of the Pope. In the Argentine newspaper “Clarin” we read that “in his first Mass in Cuba, the Pope criticized ideologies” (13). But though he did not speak about what ideologies, there was “Clarin” to clarify the situation: “the definition of the Pope -we read- sounded powerful for being said in a country like Cuba, with a regime that gives to the Marxist ideology –which “consecrate“ the State- a great importance”.

Days later, Pope Francisco was traveling to US. Do you think that any of these media had titled in a condemnatory way that “Pope hadn´t made any critical message to the US government” -for police repression, causing two deaths every day in that country (14), by participation of its army in armed conflicts in 74 countries (15), or by the tens of thousands of people who die each year due to lack of public services and universal health (16)? Do you think they talked about the “silence of Francisco” because “he avoided any reference to dissidents” imprisoned in the US, as Oscar López Rivera, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier (17) or Bradley Manning (18)? What you believe?

(Por José Manzaneda, Cubainformacion´s coordinator)

(1) http://www.tvn-2.com/el-papa-en-cuba/notas/periodistas-acreditados-cubrir-Papa-Cuba_0_4303069737.html

(2) http://www.cubainformacion.tv/index.php/lecciones-de-manipulacion/42539-cuba-300-medios-y-una-sola-maquina-de-inventar-palabras-que-el-papa-no-dijo-parte-1

(3) http://www.cubainformacion.tv/index.php/la-columna/210-edmundo-garcia/64717-la-visita-del-papa-celebracion-en-cuba-y-resignacion-en-los-medios-de-miami

(4) http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2015/09/21/actualidad/1442861529_290577.html

(5) http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2015/09/20/actualidad/1442757405_412384.html

(6) http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/09/22/opinion/1442942930_625577.html

(7) http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2015/09/22/actualidad/1442952751_428486.html

(8) http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2015/09/19/actualidad/1442676129_126540.html

(9) http://www.cubadebate.cu/opinion/2015/09/22/el-papa-en-cuba/#.VgJac31RLIU

(10) http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2015-09-19/frei-betto-el-pueblo-cubano-heroicamente-ha-resistido-el-bloqueo/

(11) http://www.elmundo.es/cultura/2015/09/21/55fc5338268e3e51548b45bc.html

(12) http://segundacita.blogspot.com.es/2015/08/deseo-una-quebrada.html

(13) http://www.clarin.com/mundo/Papa-gira-Cuba-misa-ideologias_0_1434456981.html

(14) http://www.cubainformacion.tv/index.php/doble-rasero/63827-ise-imaginan-que-un-solo-preso-llevara-en-cuba-43-anos-en-aislamiento-como-en-eeuu

(15) http://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/view/94390-eeuu-guerras-conflictos-mundo

(16) http://www.librered.net/?p=19015

(17) http://www.cubainformacion.tv/index.php/solidaridad-con-cuba/64605-comienza-jornada-en-washington-contra-el-bloqueo-con-un-llamado-a-que-eeuu-imite-a-cuba-en-la-liberacion-de-presos

(18) http://www.cubainformacion.tv/index.php/objetivo-falsimedia/50553-Bradley-Manning-la-traicion-de-revelar-asesinatos-torturas-e-invasiones

He said better use must be made of the earth’s resources, and damage caused by human activity to “our shared home” must be corrected, according to Prensa Latina.

Speaking as the child of immigrants, he said that we should never turn our backs on a neighbor and called for providing youth an education inspired by this principle.

Advocating for the worldwide elimination of the death penalty, which is used in the United States, he expressed the view that fair and necessary punishment should never exclude the possibility of hope or rehabilitation.

Thus Pope Francis became the first Pontiff to address the U.S. Congress, in what was surely one of the historic moments of his visit to the country.

Also present for the speech were Supreme Court Justices, Cabinet members and other invited guests.

The Pope was scheduled to depart for New York at 4:00pm local time, and participate in vespers at St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 6:45 pm.

Following my departure from Cuba, I would like to express my profound gratitude to your excellency and the entire Cuban people for the warm welcome to the country.

I invoke the blessing of almighty God for you all and promise you my prayers for peace and prosperity.

Pope Francis

The Pontiff is currently making his way to the United States, on the second part of his tour, where he will be received by President Barack Obama. There he will speak at a joint session of the U.S. Congress and before the UN General Assembly in New York.
On September 26, he will officiate a mass in Philadelphia and participate in the World Meeting of Families. Before leaving the island, he thanked the Cuban people for their hospitality and warm welcome.

On his last day in Cuba, the Bishop of Rome completed a busy schedule of activities which began with a mass in the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre. Later he held a meeting with Cuban families in the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba and blessed the entire city from the church’s vestibule.

During his sermon the highlighted the role of the family, calling for every family to be a welcoming space of giving and peace…”the family is a school which teaches humanity…To leave a world full of families if the best legacy. Perfect families do not exist; which is why we must cherish our family, true spaces of freedom, true centers of humanity.” To end, as is his custom, he asked that: You pray for me.

“We are among family, and when we are with family, we feel at home… Thank you, Cubans, for making me feel among family these days, making me feel at home… this meeting with you is like the dried fruit in the cake.”

In addition to addressing the role of the family as an institution, calling on all families to be welcoming places with goodness and peace, he said, “The family is humanity’s school… Let us leave the world families. That is the best legacy. There are no perfect families. That is why we care for our family, true places of freedom, true centers of humanity.”

(Granma)

During the meeting, compañero Díaz-Canel and the distinguished guest discussed the good relations between Cuba and the Holy See. They also exchanged on other issues of international concern.

Accompanying Cardinal Parolin were Monsignor Angelo Becciu, substitute of the Secretariat of State; Monsignor Paul R. Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States; and Monsignor Giorgio Lingua, Apostolic Nuncio in Havana. On the Cuban side were Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and Cuba’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Rodney López Clemente.

(Granma)

After the mass presided by the Bishop of Rome, theJubilee Year in el Cobre was officially inaugurated, celebrating the centenary of the declaration of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre as Patron Saint of Cuba.

After the ceremony, the Pontiff made his way to the city of Santiago de Cuba where he will visit the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba; there he will meet with Cuban families and bless the city of Santiago de Cuba.

(Granma)

Pope Francis will visit the St Basil The Great Seminary – Hermanos de La Salle School, founded in Santiago de Cuba in 1722. It is the oldest higher education institution in Cuba. Fidel and Raúl Castro both studied here.