POLICY OF EMPOWERMENT: POPE FRANCIS IN CUBA.

This article evaluates the visit of Pope Francis to Cuba in September 2015 through interviews with significant actors in the events surrounding it. Encompassed with a multitude of expectations relating to the processes of change taking place in Cuba, the papal visit marked a historic moment both for the Catholic Church in Cuba and the Cuban state, also due to the conflictual history of the church-state relations and the increasingly active participation of the Catholic Church in Cuban society. A significant factor of the papal visit was the role of Pope Francis in the rapprochement between Cuba and the US. As the visit portrayed Pope Francis as an active participant in the processes of change that is occurring in Cuba, the article also examines the expectations, interpretations and outcomes of the visit as well as the role attributed to Pope Francis in contemporary Cuba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]