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Observers: Pope Francis' Cuban Trip Is Significant

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Prior to his visits later this month to Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia, Pope Francis will make an important stop in communist Cuba.

As WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported, the pope will arrive as a broker of renewed diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the island nation.

"The three days in Cuba before this is huge," said Religion News Service national reporter David Gibson. "It really sets the table for the American trip and puts it in the global context that Pope Francis wants."

Observers: Pope Francis' Cuban Trip Is Significant

Austen Ivereigh, author of "The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope," sees deep significance in the Cuban visit.

"The church is a huge player in Cuba because it's the only non-state actor," Ivereigh said. "Everything in Cuba's controlled by the state except the church. The church suffers the same restrictions as the rest of society, but it is the largest institution in civil society and has been working foir many years on creating a new political culture in Cuban to prepare the Cubans for precisely the moment when they will have democracy."

Ivereigh added that Cuba in many ways is seen as the key to unlocking a new future for Latin America.

John Thavis, author of "The Vatican Diaries," noted that Francis' work paved the way for the re-establishment of U.S.-Cuban relations.

"He wants to show the world that dialogue does work, and what better way to do that than to start in Cuba and go right to the United States?" Thavis said. "I mean, he's going to be going through one very different part of the world to another, and yet he's going to try to unify it with his own voice and the voice of the gospel."

Francis will arrive in Cuba on Saturday and depart Tuesday for Washington. He will be in New York Sept. 24-26.

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