Francis then began Mass, which was attended by 300,000, according to the Cuban government.
"God’s holy and faithful people in Cuba is a people with a taste for parties, for friendship, for beautiful things," Francis said. "It is a people which marches with songs of praise. It is a people which has its wounds, like every other people, yet knows how to stand up with open arms, to keep walking in hope, because it has a vocation of grandeur.