{"id":860,"date":"2015-10-06T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mdcthereporter.com\/?p=860"},"modified":"2021-07-07T14:43:27","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T18:43:27","slug":"audience-with-the-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/audience-with-the-pope\/","title":{"rendered":"Audience With The Pope"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Victor Velazquez, a 22-year-old business student at Wolfson Campus, his pilgrimage to see Pope Francis in Cuba was humbling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Velazquez, along with his sister and cousins, heard about the trip organized by the Archdiocese of Miami from his Italian born and deeply religious grandfather, who encouraged them to attend the trip because of its historical and religious significance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was his gift to us,\u201d said Velazquez, who is taking a semester off from his College studies.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the pope announced his trip back in June, Catholics everywhere began to make plans to see him. Velazquez, his sister and \u00a0two cousins were among a group of ten, 18 to 29-year-olds, who travelled to Cuba with the Archdiocese of Miami<\/span><\/a>\u2019s Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry. He was one of 200 other Miami Catholics who paid the $800 to make the trip.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Velazquez_photo_02\"<\/a>
Humbled: Miami Dade College student, Victor Velazquez, took a pilgrimage to Cuba in September to see Pope Francis speak. ELI ABASI \\ THE REPORTER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The group met up at Miami International Airport at 5 a.m. on Sept. 19 and came back at 4 p.m. on Sept. 21. On the island, they toured Havana, saw the famous <\/span>Malec\u00f3n<\/span>, went to see the Pope\u2019s motorcade in Miramar and attended numerous masses including the one in Revolution Square.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI see the Pope as energizing,\u201d Velazquez said. \u201cHe has a different way of approaching faith.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It was meaningful for Velazquez to see the Cuban scenery with his own eyes. He called the pilgrimage a religious experience that helped him grow closer to his faith and feel grateful about the freedom he has in the United States. As far as Velazquez\u2019s impressions of Cuba, he found the people to be humble and kind. He felt like a celebrity because of the fact that Americans have more materially.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe passed out rosaries and it seemed like…It seemed like a luxury to them, like trinkets,\u201d Velazquez said. <\/span><\/p>\n

He was unsettled that Cubans put the rosaries around their necks like an accessory. They are not meant to be worn as jewelry. \u00a0<\/span>Religion and Ethics Newsweekly <\/span><\/i>explained that <\/span>after the 1959 Cuban revolution, religion was controlled, and priests were routinely jailed or exiled. Freedom of expression was limited. Cuba is predominantly Catholic, but only a small fraction of the people there regularly attend Mass. Although the country is officially secular about 50 % of the population is reported to be Catholic, according to the United \u00a0States Conference of Catholic Bishops. A representative from the Miami Archdiocese said the trip also served to help begin a relationship with the young church of Cuba.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the pope did not meet with dissidents, the regime\u2019s oppression came to light during Velazquez\u2019s visit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI recall a dissident approaching the motorcade who shouted \u201cCuba Libre!\u201d and they attacked the guy,\u201d Velazquez said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pope Francis visited Cuban head of state Raul Castro, met with bishops at St. Basil the Great, and gave a speech at Santiago de Cuba.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many were hoping the pope would talk about repression by the Cuban government, Velazquez said the Pontiff only spoke in code when it came to Cuban politics. The leader of the Catholic Church did encourage thawing relations between Cuba and the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

After his trip to the Caribbean island, Pope Francis flew by plane to Washington, D.C. on Sept. 22. During his visit in the U.S., he met with U.S. President Barack Obama, addressed congress, spoke to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, attended a multi-religious service at the 9\/11 memorial and attended the Festival of Families in Philadelphia.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was the second time Velazquez has seen a pope in person, the first being the late Pope John Paul II when the MDC student was 11. Even at a young age, he said that seeing the pope was a moving experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping it will reaffirm my faith,\u201d Velazquez said about his aspirations for the trip before going.<\/span><\/p>\n

When he returned, he called the trip to Cuba \u201cawesome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Velazquez is steeped in the Catholic faith. He attends St. Louis Church in Pinecrest. For elementary school he attended St. Peter and Paul\u2019s Catholic School. And he attended Belen Jesuit Preparatory School. <\/span><\/p>\n

Although Velazquez said he likes Pope Francis, he does not agree with all of the pope\u2019s stances on issues such as allowing LGBT members into the church. He approves of the pope\u2019s unique way of approaching faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pope has brought a new and reformed view to the church, which makes up 20.8 % of the American population. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, nine out of ten Catholics view Pope Francis favorably.<\/span><\/p>\n

Velazquez was struck by the amount of media publicity on the Cuba pilgrimage and their focus on human rights. Now he and his family are creating a scrapbook to give to his grandfather who cried when he saw his grandchildren on the news.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am eternally grateful,\u201d Velazquez said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Velazquez, along with his sister and cousins, heard about the trip organized by the Archdiocese of Miami from his Italian born and deeply religious grandfather, who encouraged them to attend the trip because of its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2753],"tags":[145,3005],"class_list":{"0":"post-860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-wolfson-campus","9":"tag-cuba","10":"tag-pope-francis"},"yoast_head":"\nAudience With The Pope<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For his trip to Cuba, Victor Velazquez joined hundreds of Catholics in a pilgrimage to see the leader of the church and the land of his grandparent\u2019s birth.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, 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