The church is now recognizing what the local church in Central and South America has always known.

The pope said there was a "weak response" in most international policies to promoting the common good.

"A rigidity that is far from a discernment of situations has been introduced" in seminaries, Pope Francis said. He also called clericalism "one of the most serious illnesses that the church has."

Within half an hour of the Cuban government's announcement Saturday of the death of the 90-year-old revolutionary leader, cheers were heard in Miami's Little Havana.

The Holy See would like its relationship with Vietnam developed further through full diplomatic relations.