HISTORIC VISIT; POPE BRINGS MESSAGE TO CUBA.

Byline: Celestine Bohlen The New York Times

Greeted by a respectful Fidel Castro as he stepped off the plane into steamy tropical sunshine, Pope John Paul II on Wednesday began his five-day mission into one of the world's last communist bastions with an appeal for Cuba to open up to the world, and the world to open up to Cuba.

They made their way slowly down the red carpet laid across the Havana airport, an incongruous pair, with the 77-year-old pope leaning on a walking stick and the 71-year-old revolutionary shedding his usual military fatigues for a double-breasted blue suit.

The pope's first visit to the Caribbean island, in the making for almost a decade and finally set just a year ago, began on an enthusiastic note as tens of thousands of Cubans lined the 10-mile roadway from the airport to Havana to greet the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, some drawn by a religious faith that has survived 39 years of communist rule, others by curiosity about a man they know little about.

In the hours before the pope's arrival Wednesday afternoon, small groups of Cubans gathered together spontaneously in the streets carrying posters of the pope, the Virgin of Caridad del Cobre, the patron of Cuba, and hand-lettered signs proclaiming their faith - a sight that would be unthinkable in ordinary times in Cuba. In a land where open expression of religion is discouraged, Castro himself gave people the afternoon off so they would come out to see the pope.

As the pope always does on his first visit to a country, he kissed the earth, although this time, in deference to his frail health, it was brought to him in a container by four Cuban children, shepherded by Castro to the foot of the airplane.

The welcoming ceremonies were marked by the continuing dialogue between the two representatives of world views that have left their mark on history - Castro speaking for a communist ideology that, in the past decade, has been rejected in most other parts of the world, and Pope John Paul for a religion that is soon to enter its third millennium.

Castro on offensive

In his welcoming speech, Castro went on the offensive, and treated his guest to a lesson in Cuban history, including a comparison of the hardships imposed by the U.S. embargo of Cuba to the persecution suffered by Christian martyrs during the Roman empire.

``Like those Christians horribly slandered to justify the crime, we who are as slandered as they were, we choose a thousand times death rather than abdicate our convictions,'' he said.

In anticipation of criticism of his treatment of the local Catholic Church, now emerging from years of repression, he attacked the religious intolerance that he said was preached in the Catholic schools of his boyhood. In contrast, he said respect for both believers and nonbelievers was enshrined in the modern Cuban Constitution. ``If there have ever been difficulties,'' he said, ``the revolution is not to blame.''

Common cause

But as he has done repeatedly in preparing for the papal visit, Castro also tried to make common cause with the pope's own message of social justice, and concern for the poor in an era of globalized capitalism. ``Another country will not be found better disposed to understand your felicitous idea - as we understand it and so similar to what we preach - that the equitable distribution of wealth and solidarity among men and peoples should be globalized,'' Castro said.

The pope, in his remarks, first stressed the pastoral side of his visit, saying he had come to Cuba as ``a pilgrim of love, of truth and of hope, with the desire to give a fresh impulse to the work of evangelization which, in the midst of difficulties, this local church continues to sustain.''

The pope's message

He also urged the faithful to take their fate in their own hands, words rarely heard in a communist state where the individual must cede to the collective.

``You are and must be the principal agents of your own personal and national history,'' he said.

But he ended on a political note with a prayer for the day when Cuba ``may offer to everyone a climate of freedom, mutual trust, social justice and lasting peace.''

``May Cuba, with all its magnificent potential, open itself up to the world, and may the world open itself up to Cuba so that this people, which is working to make progress and which longs for concord and peace, may look to the future with hope,'' he said.

There was a bite in the pope's message even before he landed in Cuba. Meeting with the 75 reporters traveling with him on the 12-hour flight from Rome, the pope - speaking clearly in several languages - laid out the purpose of his visit, and spelled out the things he wants to say, and to hear.

From Cuba's president, the pope said, he wants some straight talk. ``I want him to tell me the truth as he sees it - about himself as a man, as a president and as the so-called comandante of the revolution,'' he said, ``and also the truth about the country, about the relations between the church and the state. All of this is important to me.''

TV COVERAGE

Television coverage today of Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba:

ABC: Peter Jennings anchors ``World News Tonight'' from Havana (6:30 p.m.); ``Good Morning America'' live from Cuba (7-9 a.m.).

CBS: Dan Rather anchors ``The CBS Evening News'' from Havana (5:30 p.m.). ``This Morning'' from Cuba, featuring Martha Stewart (8-9 a.m.).

NBC: Tom Brokaw anchors ``Nightly News'' from Havana (6:30 p.m.); live reports on ``Today'' (7-9 a.m.).

CNN: Live coverage. Chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour anchors a one-hour special at 7 p.m.

Fox News: Live reports and news updates.

MSNBC: Ed Gordon anchors ``Newsfront'' from Havana (10 a.m.).

Associated Press

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, box

PHOTO (1 -- color) Pope John Paul II greets a coiffed President Fidel Castro after arriving at Havana's Jose Marti Airport on Wednesday.

(2) Cuban children, ages 7 and 8, hold up a plaque for Pope John Paul II to kiss as he disembarks his plane, flanked by Vatican officials.

Associated Press

Box: tv coverage (see text)