Cuban santeras do ceremony «for Pope Francis to save»

Santeras and believers in Afro -Cuban syncretic rites raised their prayers this Saturday in Havana for the speedy recovery of Pope Francis, admitted to a hospital in Rome because of bilateral pneumonia.

Gathered at the headquarters of the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba, a religious organization of the official court, the parishioners celebrated a ritual for the health of the Pontiff.

«For Pope Francis to save, he is saved (…). So, so,» they asked in their prayers, he cites a report from The Associated Press news agency. Believers raised their prayers AA San Lázaro, which in their Afro -Cuban syncretic form is known as Babalú Ayé; A Yemayá, the goddess of the sea, syncretized in Cuba with the Virgin of Rule, and San Miguel, syncretized with Oggun.

The ceremony was chaired by the iyalocha and historian of the Yoruba Cultural Association, Gloria Esperanza Reyes.

Offerings with flowers and glasses of water were deposited in front of giant sculptures that represent the main Afro -Cuban deities, such as Changó, Obatala and Ochún.

«A mass was made for the health of Pope Francis. We want to be sanitized as soon as possible,» Reyes told AP.

«We are combining all our spirituality to get him to heal,» said Religious Dania Montero.

Also this Saturday, the Catholic Bishop Conference of Cuba He summoned a prayer for the health of Pope Francis, asking all the faithful and people of good will «to join in prayer so that the Lord assists the Pope at this time of illness, as well as the doctors and other personnel who attend him.»

The Pope received on Sunday at the hospital the visit of the Secretary of State of the Vatican, while he continued his recovery, although he returned to his weekly blessing at noon.

Instead of his usual Sunday public appearance, the Vatican distributed a message from the Holy Father in which he thanked doctors for their care and all who have raised their good wishes in their prayers for their speedy recovery. He also asked for peace in Ukraine and other parts of the world.

«From here the war seems even more absurd,» said the high pontiff in the message written from the Gemelli Hospital, the Vatican said.

Pope Francis sympathized in the message with the patients suffering everywhere. «I feel in my heart the blessing that hides within fragility, because precisely at the moment, when the disease makes us more vulnerable, we learn even more to trust the Lord,» he said.

(Includes AP information)