Inside Pope Francis's Role in Healing America's Relationship with Cuba

"In promoting peace he works in the interest of the nations, and not for the narrow interest of the Church," a Vatican expert tells PEOPLE

Photo: Stefano Spaziani/Landov

When President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the U.S. would normalize relations with Cuba, he made a point of thanking Pope Francis for his role in reversing a 53-year stand-off between the two nations.

According to a statement from the Vatican, in recent months Pope Francis had sent letters to both Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro asking them to release their respective political prisoners. The pope also encouraged the countries to work on repairing their long-strained relationship. It is an effort, Vatican observers say, that began earlier, under Pope John Paul II.

“When Pope Francis intervened for the release of the prisoners, he was working on the base of the work carried out through many years by the Catholic Church in the country, and by the Holy See to bring Cuba and the USA together,” explains Marco Politi, papal biographer and one of Italy’s leading Vaticanists.

Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, did not make a priority of international affairs. But, Politi says, “Pope Francis has revived John Paul II s policy of acting geopolitically to promote peace, human rights and religious freedom, at the same time contrasting fundamentalist terrorism.”

Politi says he believes Pope Francis, who met with Obama in March 2014, was successful because his goals of conflict-resolution go beyond his role as a religious leader.

“People and statesmen are sensitive to Francis s sincere approach,” he says, “and feel that in promoting peace he works in the interest of the nations, and not for the narrow interest of the Church.”

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