Pope Francis has met Fidel Castro, in an encounter that was described as “intimate and familial”, despite the radically different paths the Argentinian pontiff and Cuban revolutionary leader had taken in life.

The half-hour meeting, which took place this morning after mass in Havana’s Revolution Square, was not entirely unexpected: the Vatican had already signalled that a meeting was possible, even though it was not formally on the pope’s schedule when he began his historic trip to Cuba on Saturday.

The pope has met Fidel’s brother Raúl several times – prompting the Cuban president to comment that he was considering returning to the faith in which he was brought up.

But it was the prospect of a meeting with Fidel – the man who symbolizes both Cuba’s communist revolution and its intolerance for dissent – that was seen as a pivotal moment in the pope’s visit to the island.

A photo released by the Castro family showed the 89-year-old former president and Francis looking into each other’s eye as they shook hands, the pope dressed in his white vestments and Castro in an Adidas track jacket.

The brief encounter came shortly after the pope warned thousands of Cubans, who were attending his mass, to be wary of ideology and instead to focus on the service of people.

“This caring for others out of love is not about being servile,” he said. “Service is never ideological, for we do not serve ideas, we serve people.”

Francis and Castro met in the company of 10 to 15 other people, including Castro’s wife and grandchildren, and the encounter involved an exchange of books.



According to Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, the two discussed the state of humanity and its many problems, as well as the state of the environment.



The pope gave Castro a copy of his encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si, which calls for action to combat global warming, and is an indictment of rich nations’ exploitation of the poor and misuse of the earth’s resources.

Francis also gave Castro books by an Italian priest called Alessandro Pronzato and a Spanish Jesuit Amando Llorente. He was also given a book on humour and religion – perhaps as a way to broach the topic lightly.

Francis, in turn, received a book by Castro himself with his own insights on religion, a collection of interviews of the leader by Brazilian priest Frei Betto.

Lombardi suggested that the meeting had a different tone than one in 2012 between Castro and Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict. In that encounter, Castro reportedly peppered the German pope with questions, while on Sunday, Castro engaged in more of a conversation with Francis.

Pope Francis was seen as playing a key role in the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US, and he used his first speech in Havana on Saturday to urge leaders from both countries to continue on their path to reconciliation.

But according to a papal biography by author and journalist Jimmy Burns, the Vatican’s “discreet bridge-building” preceded the intervention of both Barack Obama and the election of Francis in 2013.

Pope Francis meets with Raul Castro for private talks in Cuba – link to video

Citing Jesuit and diplomatic sources, Burns says the real “turning point” occurred when both Castro brothers elected to attend a mass by the visiting Pope John Paul II in 1998, opening the door for Cubans who were faithful to the revolution and wanted to practice their faith to see signs of the reconciliation they were hoping for.

The Vatican’s soft approach – it has often criticised the US embargo but has rarely taken a tough line against the Cuban regime’s human rights abuses – has also been a long-running point of contention among dissidents and Cuban exiles.

Ángel Moya, a prominent pro-democracy activist, expressed disappointment that pope Francis had not been more outspoken on the subject of human rights, unlike his predecessor.

“John Paul spoke out clearly, but the current pope is too soft with regards to human rights. Cubans have a harsh life, but he has not been categorical enough when talking about civil liberties,” he told the Guardian.

Moya and his wife Berta Soler – the leader of the dissident group Ladies in White - were among several dozen people detained for several hours on Sunday by Cuban security officials to prevent them attending the papal mass in Revolution Square.

Moya - who was imprisoned for eight years - said the group had no further actions planned during the pope’s visit, but they would continue their campaign.

“We’ll defend our rights with or without the pope. He is no liberator. It is up to Cubans to struggle for our liberty.”



Proponents of the church have argued that it has been able to achieve more in Cuba by avoiding direct confrontation.



Austen Ivereigh, the papal biographer, said the meeting Sunday was a natural courtesy to Cuba’s figurehead, but dismissed any suggestion that much more ought to be read into it.

“It follows the line long established by the Cuban bishops in acknowledging Fidel as Cuba’s leader. Cubans may complain about the Revolution, but they respect Fidel, see him as their protector,” Ivereigh said.

He added: “I have no doubt that Francis is coming to help build a new future for Cuba, but it’s one that reforms and builds on the revolution, rather than opposes it.”

The gift of Llorente’s book would likely have particular significance for Castro.

Llorente was the revolutionary leader’s teacher at the Colegio de Belen in 1940s but left the country in 1961 and died in Miami in 2010.

According to a 2006 interview with Llorente in the Miami Herald, the Jesuit recalled how a teenage Fidel – whose father Angel was largely absent from his life – once confided in him “I have no family other than you.” He was apparently referring to the Jesuit priests who were educating him.

Llorente also recalled visiting Castro’s guerrilla camp in 1958, when the Batista government was close to falling.

“I went because the Vatican needed to know what was happening. Was the revolution Fidel was leading nationalist, or Marxist, or what?’’ the priest said, according to the report.

He added: “I spent four days at Fidel’s headquarters. I asked him about Cuba’s future, especially regarding the Catholic Church. He professed to have no problem and said, for example, that he would need to keep the Catholic Saint Thomas University so that it could train the engineers that Cuba needed so badly.’’

Ivereigh, the biographer, said the gift of Llorente’s book “may have been [an attempt] to help El Jefe to come to terms with his past.”

“It’s the kind of thing a priest does for a dying man,” he said on Twitter.