Many took comfort in the
fact that Fidel had once been Catholic. “He studied in Catholic schools
you know,” explains nurse and militant Cari Galban. “Being a believer and
being faithful to the revolution didn’t used to be possible,” explains
Jose Machado, 22, a good looking black man from Santa Clara. Galban, dressed
in her white nurse uniform interrupts Machado to insist; “I’m a militant
and a Catholic.” It didn’t strike her as odd that there had been a change
in attitude toward the church. “Some churches were in disfavor depending
on how the church behaved. If the church was with the state, it was supported,”
she explains. Nor did she any irony in Castro’s rapprochement with the
church. “Our commandante is very good. He understands everything about
the church and the revolution.”
Alina Delgado, 30, is a militant, and not Catholic. Her spin on the Pope
seemed right from Fidel’s propaganda ministry: “The Pope has so many healthy
ideas. We revolutionaries believe in freedom, that kids should not go hungry
or sick. The Pope is for these things too. He’s for humanity,” she explains.
“Many of us here are not religious, but we respect them. It’s important
to respect.”
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