Castro: Ready to go back to church after meeting with Pope Francis

Jane Onyanga-Omara | USA TODAY

Cuban President Raúl Castro met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Sunday and thanked the pontiff for his role in rekindling relations between the United States and his island nation.

The Communist leader also said he was so impressed with the pope that "I will go back to praying and go back to the church, and I'm not joking."

"Bienvenido!" the Argentine-born Francis said in his native Spanish in welcoming Castro, the Associated Press reported. The Cuban president, bowing his head, gripped Francis' hand with both of his, and the two men began private talks. The meeting lasted nearly an hour, and both men spoke in Spanish.

The Vatican announced last month that Francis would visit Cuba in September before arriving in the United States.

Castro, the brother of revolutionary leader Fidel, who brought the Communists to power in Cuba, had much praise for Francis after their meeting.

"When the pope goes to Cuba in September, I promise to go to all his Masses, and with satisfaction," Castro said at a news conference at the office of Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, whom he met with after the Vatican talks.​

"I read all the speeches of the pope, his commentaries, and if the pope continues this way, I will go back to praying and go back to the church, and I'm not joking," he said, according to AP.

"I am from the Cuban Communist Party, that doesn't allow (religious) believers, but now we are allowing it, it's an important step," Castro said.

Castro, talking about Francis, said he was "very impressed by his wisdom, his modesty, and all his virtues that we know he has."

Castro had previously thanked Francis publicly for his role in drawing Havana and Washington together to open relations for the first time in 53 years, and he reiterated it Sunday.

"I thanked the pope for what he did," Castro told journalists.

After his meeting with Renzi, Castro expressed hope that Cuba would quickly see more fruits of the thaw between his country and the U.S. "Maybe the (U.S.) Senate will take us off the list of terrorist nations" soon, Castro said, according to AP.

Castro had stopped in Rome on his way back from celebrations in Moscow of the 70th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II.

The meeting came about after Francis had written a personal letter to President Obama in the fall and a separate letter to Castro, inviting them to "resolve humanitarian questions of common interest," according to a Vatican statement.

The Vatican received delegations from both countries in October and helped facilitate a dialogue, resulting in a major U.S. policy shift toward Cuba, including a prisoner swap between the two countries.

The pontiff is scheduled to visit Washington, New York City and Philadelphia starting around Sept. 23.

Francis would be the third pope to visit Cuba, after Pope John Paul II in 1998 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. Fidel Castro met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1996.