The program established for his stay on the communist-ruled island was  presented to the pope by the officials in charge of his travels after the  preparatory meetings they held with Cuban government and COCC authorities during  the visit they made to Havana in mid-December.

The 84-year-old Benedict XVI will travel to Mexico and then to Cuba on his  second visit to Latin  America – he was in Brazil  in 2007 – and his first to Spanish-speaking countries in the region.

The pope’s trip will coincide with the celebration on the island of the 400th  anniversary of the discovery of the image of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre,  Cuba’s patron saint.

The pontiff will be transported in an open vehicle from the airport to the  archbishopric in Santiago de Cuba and on the afternoon of his arrival he will  celebrate an open-air Mass on the Plaza de la Revolucion Antonio Maceo for the  Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, the COCC said.

Later, he will travel to the nearby provincial town of El Cobre, where he  will be housed in the priests’ residence and the next day he will make a private  visit to the sanctuary of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre there to “pray for  several minutes” before the saint’s venerated image.

In August 2010, the image of the Virgin of Charity, accompanied by church  authorities, began an unprecedented tour of the island, traveling some 30,000  kilometers (18,600 miles) to churches, schools, hospitals, prisons and public  squares all over the country, a pilgrimage that concluded last Dec. 30 with a  farewell Mass in Havana.

The pope’s visit to Cuba will conclude in Havana, where upon his arrival in  the capital at midday on March 27, he will be welcomed at Jose Marti airport by  Cardinal Jaime Ortega, auxiliary bishops, religious and civil officials.

On that day, Benedict XVI will officially meet with Castro and also with  Cuban Catholic authorities at the Apostolic Nunciature, where he will be  staying.

Rounding out his agenda, the pope is scheduled on March 28 to celebrate a  Mass on Havana’s emblematic Plaza de la Revolution Jose Marti.

The pontiff’s visit will be the second by a pope to Cuba, after John Paul  II’s “historic” 1998 trip to the island.

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