--- title: Pope Francis Cuba Visit: The Historical Precedent description: Pope Francis will be the third Pope to visit Cuba canonical: https://time.com/4030673/pope-francis-cuba-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-17T16:15:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:35.949Z article:section: History og:title: Pope Francis Cuba Visit: The Historical Precedent og:description: The list of papal visits to the island is a short one og:url: https://time.com/4030673/pope-francis-cuba-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf11ed57e1531c274/6987ebaa524fc03d24df045e/1101980126_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Jan. 26, 1998 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pope Francis Cuba Visit: The Historical Precedent twitter:description: The list of papal visits to the island is a short one twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf11ed57e1531c274/6987ebaa524fc03d24df045e/1101980126_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Happened the First Time a Pope Visited Cuba ## Video: Pope Francis Speeds Up Annulment Process [Watch (HLS stream): Pope Francis Speeds Up Annulment Process](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rEMOcNxQ.m3u8) (0:41)  _Published 2015-09-08. Pope Francis has just reformed the Catholic Church's process for granting annulments, making it faster while not necessarily changing the criteria._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 17, 2015 4:15 PM UTC  The Jan. 26, 1998 cover of TIME The Jan. 26, 1998 cover of TIMECover Credit: GERARD RANCINAN  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 17, 2015 4:15 PM UTC When Pope Francis begins his [visit](http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article20693646.html) to Cuba Saturday, he will become the third pope to visit the communist nation. He’ll encounter a country in a far different place than the one Pope Benedict XVI visited in 2012, or Pope John Paul II did on the first papal trip in 1998. Back then, TIME dubbed John Paul’s meeting with Fidel Castro a “clash of faiths.” Indeed, that visit was one of the last gasps of the Cold War era. Though the Iron Curtain had long since fallen, Cuba remained set in its Marxist ways, with no official appetite for organized Western religion. But the island had begun to show signs of warming to religion–and the government seemed less eager to crack down. The pope’s visit to Cuba was, TIME explained, an attempt to move that dial: --- > “” --- In the American media, the trip was largely eclipsed by Bill Clinton’s burgeoning Monica Lewinsky scandal. But it has since come to be seen as a milestone in the opening up of relations between Cuba and the rest of the world—a process that Pope Francis’ visit will certainly continue. **_Read more on Time.com:_** [How the Vatican and Cuba Came Together](http://time.com/3826410/pope-cuba-1998/) **_Read more from 1998, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Clash of Faiths](http://time.com/vault/issue/1998-01-26/page/28/) ### A History of Cuba-U.S. Relations in 13 TIME Covers  Fulgencio Batista on the Apr. 26, 1937, cover of TIME TIME  Fidel Castro on the Jan. 26, 1959, cover of TIME Cover Credit: BORIS CHALIAPIN  Che Guevara on the Aug. 8, 1960, cover of TIME Cover Credit: BERNARD SAFRAN  Jose Miro Cardona on the Apr. 28, 1961, cover of TIME TIME  Blas Roca on the Apr. 27, 1962, cover of TIME Cover Credit: BERNARD SAFRAN  Adm. George Anderson on the Nov. 2, 1962, cover of TIME Boris Chaliapin  Fidel Castro on the Oct. 8, 1965, cover of TIME Cover Credit: BERNARD SAFRAN  Fidel Castro (and others) on the Jun. 13, 1969, cover of TIME Cover Credit: KARSH, HARRY REDL, BEN MARTIN.  Fidel Castro and Cyrus Vance on the Sept. 17, 1979, cover of TIME Cover Credit: RODDEY E. MIMS; HIRES-GAMMA/LIAISON.  Fidel Castro on the Dec. 6, 1993, cover of TIME Cover Credit: GIANFRANCO GORGONI  The Sept. 5, 1994, cover of TIME Cover Credit: PAUL DAVIS  Fidel Castro on the Feb. 20, 1995, cover of TIME Cover Credit: DAVID BURNETT  Fidel Castro and the Pope on the Jan. 26, 1998, cover of TIME Cover Credit: GERARD RANCINAN ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4030673/pope-francis-cuba-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4030673/pope-francis-cuba-history/"},"headline":"What Happened the First Time a Pope Visited Cuba","datePublished":"2015-09-17T16:15:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:41:35.949Z","description":"The list of papal visits to the island is a short one","url":"https://time.com/4030673/pope-francis-cuba-history/","keywords":["faith","Cuba topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf11ed57e1531c274/6987ebaa524fc03d24df045e/1101980126_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf11ed57e1531c274/6987ebaa524fc03d24df045e/1101980126_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jan. 26, 1998","caption":"Jan. 26, 1998","creditText":"Cover Credit: GERARD RANCINAN","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/faith/","name":"faith"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4030673/pope-francis-cuba-history/","name":"What Happened the First Time a Pope Visited Cuba"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Pope Francis Speeds Up Annulment Process","description":"Pope Francis has just reformed the Catholic Church's process for granting annulments, making it faster while not necessarily changing the criteria.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/rEMOcNxQ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-08T15:17:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rEMOcNxQ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4030673/pope-francis-cuba-history/","duration":"PT41S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4030673/pope-francis-cuba-history/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```