As the media closely monitors Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba this week, talk has swirled around human rights issues, the role of the Church in contemporary Cuba, and the political implications of this visit for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Cuban government. All important topics, yet it seems that no one is asking the most important question of all: Why did the Pope decide to visit Cuba?
This trip is Benedict XVI’s first, and many say only, visit to Spanish-speaking Latin America, where the majority of Catholics live. The choice of Mexico, with the second-largest Catholic population globally, seems obvious. What isn't obvious is the decision to visit this island nation where Catholicism has struggled for the past 50 years. The answer is found in the verb tense. The Church in Cuba is no longer struggling.
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