In a message that will be read at Masses this weekend, the bishops will announce that they have been “called to Rome during Feb. 16–20 to pray in the four major basilicas, to meet for the first time with the Holy Father Leo XIV, and to share with him and with the heads of the Holy See’s dicasteries the vicissitudes, sorrows, joys, and hopes of the Church in Cuba.”
The Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops (COCC, by its Spanish acronym) states that the trip is part of the ad limina visit that bishops must make every five years to the See of St. Peter.
“Every five years, the diocesan bishop must have a personal meeting with the Holy Father, present him with a report on the state of his diocese, and make a pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul,” the announcement states, citing the Code of Canon Law.
The COCC reports that the meeting with Leo XIV will take place on the morning of Friday, Feb. 20. “We are filled with anticipation to listen to and converse with someone who, in a way, knows us, since he visited our country twice when he was the superior general of the Augustinian Fathers,” the announcement notes.
The trip comes as the Catholic Church is the sole distributor of humanitarian aid sent by the United States government to people affected by Hurricane Melissa — a distribution that is taking place without the intervention of the Cuban government.
This is in addition to the meetings that some bishops have held in recent days with the chargé d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, Mike Hammer.
On Sunday, Feb. 1, Pope Leo XIV expressed his concern over “reports of increased tensions between Cuba and the United States of America.
The pontiff expressed his support for the bishops’ message of Jan. 31 and urged “all those responsible to promote a sincere and effective dialogue, to avoid violence and any action that could increase the sufferings of the dear Cuban people.”