Pope’s Trip to Cuba Pushed Back to 1998

Pope John Paul will make his planned visit to Cuba in January 1998, the Vatican has confirmed. It issued a statement after an announcement in Havana by Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega that the trip, initially expected to take place this year, would be delayed. The 76-year-old pontiff already has four foreign trips planned for 1997. President Fidel Castro invited the pope to Cuba during a November audience at the Vatican which highlighted a thaw in relations between the island’s Communist authorities and the Roman Catholic Church.