ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 4, 1996 TAG: 9612040037
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ALAMAR, CUBA
SOURCE: JOHN RICE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH are looking to Pope John Paul II's visit to help legitimize their faith in a country where atheism was the rule until 1992, and no new churches have been built in 30 years.
The 50-person congregation is crammed into Pablo Cano's tiny living room, sitting on all available chairs - even lawn chairs - or standing.
A refrigerator hums nearby as a couple present their newborn for baptism, approaching the makeshift sanctuary adorned with travel posters from Spain and a 3-inch souvenir crucifix from Vatican City.
``I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,'' the priest says, pouring holy water on the infant's head from a coffee cup.
Home sacraments are performed hundreds of times a week across Cuba, where atheism was official doctrine until 1992 and no churches have been built in 30 years.
Religious observance is on the upswing here, and Cuban Roman Catholics say they hope Pope John Paul II's scheduled visit will further expand opportunities for worship and social work. The date of the visit has yet to be set.
``I think it will be a tremendous push for Catholics in Cuba,'' said Luis Lopez, one of four Alamar residents who holds Masses in his house. ``Everyone is waiting for it.''
The visit is sure to result in the largest crowds allowed to gather for a non-Communist Party event since perhaps 1961, when the government embraced communism. Cuba is the only Latin American country John Paul has yet to visit, and people questioned for years whether he would ever go to the communist island.
The pope finally agreed in November to come to Cuba, but only after President Fidel Castro said he would not impose restrictions on the pontiff's visit. Some speculate that Castro has paid a high price for papal recognition, because a visit by the pope - who helped bring down communism in his native Poland - could become a rallying point for anti-Castro Cubans.
Few in Cuba, however, seem to think the papal visit will set off a Polish-style challenge for which some exiled Castro critics hope.
``It is a sign that the state feels strong, that it can risk a large mobilization'' for the papal visit, said Enrique Lopez Oliva, a historian of religious affairs in Cuba.
The church that John Paul will find in Cuba is far different from that of Poland - or even of other parts of Latin America.
Most professed Catholics in Cuba blend their faith with African traditions into forms of worship called Santeria or Palo Monte. Church officials say they respect those believers but try to educate them in more orthodox practices.
For decades, the devout were banned from the Communist Party, from key military posts and from many other jobs or academic careers. Yet with the fall of communism in Europe and economic hardship in Cuba, many have turned to religion.
Church officials say they are confident that the pope's visit will only strengthen interest in Catholicism.
``It would be logical'' that the church might be allowed to ``broaden its mission'' in Cuba, said the Rev. Jose Felix Perez, spokesman for the Conference of Cuban Bishops.
Already, Cuban Catholics have been permitted to bring in a few more foreign priests in recent weeks. They would like to be able to build new churches, have access to radio and television, perhaps eventually to reopen schools.
Castro called his meeting in Rome last month with the pope ``a miracle,'' and few would dispute it.
Though Castro was educated in Jesuit schools, his government clashed often with the church in the first years after the 1959 revolution. Most of Cuba's priests at the time were Spaniards, many of whom sympathized with the fascist regime of Francisco Franco.
Before the revolution, the church got most of its income from private schools, but that money source dried up when Castro nationalized the education system, said political scientist John Kirk, a Cuba specialist at Dalhousie University in Canada.
Many middle-class Catholics fled the country, and the church briefly encouraged those who stayed to send their children abroad to save them from an atheist upbringing.
Today, however, the Communist Party's religious affairs chief, Carmen Diaz, says she sees no incompatibility between worship and party activism.
``There are many Christians who say that the most evangelic work they have seen is the Cuban revolution,'' she said. ``There are many Christian values that we not only share but which we make possible.''
LENGTH: Medium: 87 linesby CNB