Pope Francis arrives at Havana’s Revolution Square for mass
Pope Francis arrives for Mass at Revolution Plaza in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015, where people wave Cuban, Vatican and Argentine flags. Pope Francis opens his first full day in Cuba on Sunday with what normally would be the culminating highlight of a papal visit: Mass before hundreds of thousands of people in Havana’s Revolution Plaza. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
HAVANA — Pope Francis greeted massive crowds of fans and Catholic faithful Sunday as he arrived in his popemobile to give mass on Havana’s iconic Revolution Square, the highlight of his trip to Cuba.
The Argentine pontiff leaned out from his white open-air vehicle to grasp the hands of festive onlookers and wave to the crowds gathered under the cloudy sky.
Nearly a million people are expected on the sprawling square, where excited Cubans and foreign visitors began streaming in overnight to camp out for the big event.
Cuba President Raul Castro and Argentine President Cristina Kirchner were already in the stands as Francis arrived, looking smart in his papal whites and surrounded by a security detail dressed in black.
The pope, who arrived on the communist island Saturday, will address the crowd beside a towering sculpture of his fellow Argentine Che Guevara’s iconic silhouette, following in the footsteps of his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
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Pope Francis to give mass on Havana’s Revolution Square
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