He said he was grateful the government welcomed priests and women religious from abroad to the country. For some communities, it's the only way to keep the church alive in Cuba.

In remote rural swathe known as the Wild West of Honduras, said to be a bandits' hideout where it is "easy to get in, tough to get out," the church finds itself once again at the forefront of a movement for justice.

Archbishop José H.Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote in a statement released on Feb. 12 that Pope Francis has provided “a hopeful and challenging vision of the future of the Amazon region.”

Cardinal Dolan said he'd met Diaz-Canel twice before and the last time was in 2018, the year he took over the helm as head of Cuba from Raúl Castro.

Over the weekend of Feb. 8-9, the government ordered military and police to surround the legislative building, and on Feb. 9, the military forced its way into congressional chambers in a show of force.

Jesuit provincials have demanded that Nicaraguan authorities end a "campaign of slander and aggressions" against the Jesuit-run Central American University in Managua and its rector, Jesuit Father Jose Alberto Idiaquez.