Cuba's 'City of Churches' starts new chapter after Pope Francis' visit

Father Jose Grau became a priest when the island shun religion

CAMAGUEY, Cuba – The Spaniards who built Camaguey, formerly known as Puerto Principe, erected the old cathedral in 1530. From its square tower, soldiers belched forth a cannon, and the heavy wooden doors still bare bullet marks.

Church records guard the city's history, and the city has no shortage of Roman Catholic churches. Aside from the Santa Iglesia Catedral Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria, there are the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Merced and the church of San Juan de Dios.

Father Jose Grau is a priest at the Iglesia de la Soledad, where he has been for 14 years. When the city was founded, he said, the churches were all within a third of a mile.

"We have lived many years in which people have had a certain fear of manifesting their religiosity," Grau said.

Grau said he remembers when he became a Catholic priest in the early 1960s. At the peak of Fidel Castro's atheist revolution, the Catholic church was a target. Grau witnessed change and the visits of three bishops of Rome, the worldwide leader of the Catholic church.

Pope John Paul II, born Karol Jozef Wjtyla in Poland, was in Cuba in 1998. His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger in Germany, was in Cuba in 2012. Most recently, Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, was in Cuba in September.

"We are on the right path," Grau said.

Pope Francis played a vital role in getting President Barack Obama and President Raul Castro to talk about moving toward with normalizing relations.  During his visit, Grau said it was clear that the pope understands what Cubans are facing. He speaks in very simplistic terms, Grau said.

"Dream that if you give the best of yourself, you will help make the world a different place," Francis said in Havana. He also urged students to "open yourself and dream."

INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: How Cuban slaves kept Santeria religion secret