Pope francis took time out of his formal programme on Sunday to visit Cuba’s former leader, Fidel Castro. Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said that after Mass in Havana’s Revolution Square, Pope Francis was driven to the ailing 89-year-old’s residence for the meeting, which lasted 30 to 40 minutes. In the presence of Mr Castro’s wife, children and grandchildren, Fr Lombardi said, the meeting was “familial and informal”.
Pope Francis, he said, picked up on the conversation Benedict XVI had with Mr Castro in 2012. At that time, Fr Lombardi said Castro had asked about how the Church was handling the ethical challenges posed by scientific and technological developments and the relationship between faith and reason, as well as the Pope’s concerns about a growing number of people who did not believe in God or acted as if God did not exist.
