On a humid Havana afternoon, the Vatican’s foreign minister in cassock steps onto Cuban soil, proving that a change of Pope has not dulled Rome’s appetite for delicate diplomacy. His visit revives a story of clashes, reconciliations, and quiet prisoner releases.
A Cathedral Door Stays Open
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher’s first stop is Havana’s monumental cathedral, where workers still polish pews for a Mass that will echo the start of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate. Ninety years have passed since the Holy See and Cuba exchanged ambassadors, yet the bond endures. Gallagher’s handshake with President Miguel Díaz-Canel, followed by coffee with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, signals that the Vatican’s new era will not retreat from the island’s thorny debates. Sources inside the Secretariat of State confirmed to EFE that Leo XIV asked his envoy to “listen more than lecture,” a tone intended to reassure Havana that dialogue remains the Church’s preferred currency.
From Exile to Embrace
Diplomacy here was once unthinkable. After 1959, Fidel Castro nationalized Catholic schools and sent scores of priests onto outward-bound ships. However, complete rupture never came. The turning point arrived in 1985, when Brazilian friar Frei Betto published Fidel y la Religión, revealing a leader willing to discuss liberation theology. Six years later, believers were allowed to join the Communist Party; in 1992, Cuba redefined itself as secular rather than atheist. Historian Carlos Eire notes that no other Latin-American revolution reversed course so publicly on religion. The detente climaxed in 1998 when Pope John Paul II urged the world to “open itself to Cuba.” Havana freed political prisoners and restored Christmas as a public holiday. Benedict XVI’s 2012 trip built on that thaw, supporting Cuba’s condemnation of U.S. sanctions while nudging the government toward greater liberty of conscience.
Francis, the Thaw, and Prison Gates
The most dramatic chapter unfolded under Pope Francis. In 2014, the Argentinian pontiff hosted secret envoys from Washington and Havana, modifying the “deshielo” that briefly ended half a century of U.S.-Cuban hostilities. Although many concessions vanished during the Trump administration, the Vatican’s honesty broker credibility was sealed. Cardinal Beniamino Stella’s 2023 visit pressed for amnesty after the July 2021 protests, and earlier this year, Rome quietly backed the release of 553 detainees tied to the forthcoming 2025 Jubilee. Political scientist Maria Werlau argues in Cuba Archive Reports that such gestures illustrate Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power: the ability to attract and persuade where coercion fails. Critics counter that Rome’s moral authority is uneven, blemished by its scandals, yet prisoner families in Havana’s suburbs measure the Vatican’s impact in open cell doors rather than perfect consistency.
Soft Power in a Hard Place
Gallagher’s presence reminds Latin America that the Holy See punches far above its demographic weight. Without armies or markets, it leans on symbolism—miters beside military uniforms, liturgies beside legislative sessions—to influence debates on sanctions, social justice, and human rights. Sociologist Patricia Fornet notes in Revista Temas that Cuban officials value Vatican mediation precisely because it arrives wrapped in pastoral language, avoiding the punitive rhetoric familiar to geopolitical rivals. Still, moral diplomacy walks a tightrope: the Church denounces economic embargoes that squeeze the poor yet simultaneously pleads for greater civil liberties. Whether this balancing act satisfies either side is secondary to the fact that it keeps both talking.
As Mass concludes in the cathedral, parishioners step onto cobblestones that once heard revolutionary slogans condemning clerical privilege. They hear Gallagher’s simple blessing for the new Pope and “all Cubans at home and abroad.” Among them stands Elena Martínez, whose nephew was jailed after the 2021 marches. She tells EFE that Vatican advocacy “did not move mountains, but it moved my boy out of a cell with twenty men into one with six. That is not nothing.”
Future Written in Quiet Meetings
What comes next is uncertain. U.S. policy could harden or soften; Havana could open or close space for dissent. However, the pattern set over ninety years suggests the Holy See will keep nudging, cajoling, and occasionally surprising. Leo XIV was the first non-European Pontiff since Francis ordered to “continue the preference for the periphery,” according to Vatican sources quoted in La Civiltà Cattolica. Latin America, the birthplace of liberation theology and mighty social movements, remains squarely within that periphery.
Gallagher departs Havana carrying portfolios full of private promises: a list of prisoners’ names, a request for eased travel permits for priests, and perhaps even a tentative outline for renewed U.S.-Cuba talks. No document promises to change, but they show the Church’s lasting plan – small gains come from being present, using persuasion, and the steady belief that enemies become partners over time.
In a hemisphere still wrestling with inequality and ideological fault lines, the Vatican’s latest mission shows why its influence has lasted—quiet, stubborn, and rooted in the conviction that moral argument can sometimes rewrite political reality. Whether viewed through admiration or skepticism, the Holy See’s engagement with Cuba reminds Latin America that power need not always roar; sometimes, it whispers, and the whisper lingers.
Also Read: Mexico’s Judicial Vote Abstentionism Deals Blow to Sheinbaum’s Ambitions
Sources: Interviews with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher and Vatican officials for EFE (2026); Frei Betto, Fidel y la Religión (1985); Carlos Eire, Waiting for Snow in Havana (Free Press, 2003); Maria Werlau, Cuba Archive Reports (2024); Joseph Nye, Soft Power (PublicAffairs, 2004); Patricia Fornet, “Diplomacia y Sociedad,” Revista Temas (2025); La Civiltà Cattolica Vatican briefings (2026).