Pope Meets Fidel after Mass on Iconic Havana Square

Pope Francis met with Fidel Castro Sunday at the Cuban revolutionary leader's home in Havana after an outdoor mass attended by hundreds of thousands of people on the city's iconic Revolution Square.

In what is sure to become an emblematic moment of Francis' tour of Cuba and the United States -- the Cold War enemies whose reconciliation he helped to bring about -- the pope chatted with the 89-year-old Castro and his family for about 30 or 40 minutes, said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi.

Lombardi said the conversation touched on various topics, including the environment, and was "very informal and friendly."

Francis gave the former Cuban leader four books, including two on theology.

Castro reciprocated with a dedicated copy of Brazilian priest Frei Betto's book of interviews with him, "Fidel and Religion," which he signed: "With admiration and respect from the Cuban people."

After decades of hostility between Castro's communist regime and the Catholic Church, relations began to slowly improve in the 1980s, culminating in a historic visit to Cuba by pope John Paul II in 1998.

Francis was also due to meet later with Castro's brother, President Raul Castro, who took power when Fidel stepped down amid a health crisis in 2006.

Before meeting the Castros, the pope gave a homily calling on Cubans to serve the downtrodden and warning them that "service is never ideological."

His message at the mass did not directly address Cuba's political situation or Havana's nascent rapprochement with the United States.

But he warned against both ideology and an every-man-for-himself mentality, at a time when Cuba faces a delicate period of economic and political transition.

"Christians are constantly called to set aside their own wishes and desires, their pursuit of power, and to look instead to those who are most vulnerable," he told the crowd, speaking beneath a towering sculpture of his fellow Argentine Che Guevara's iconic silhouette.

"We need to be careful not to be tempted by another kind of service, a 'service' which is 'self-serving,'" he said.

"Service is never ideological, for we do not serve ideas, we serve people."

Speaking at the end of the mass, Havana's archbishop, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, called to heal the sometimes deeply personal wounds left by the U.S.-Cuban standoff, appealing for a "long-sought reconciliation among all Cubans, both in Cuba and abroad."

The pope's eight-day tour follows the announcement of the U.S.-Cuban thaw, which paved the way for the estranged neighbors to renew diplomatic relations in July.

Just ahead of the pope's trip, the United States announced a further loosening of restrictions on business and travel with Cuba -- a move Ortega said he believed was inspired by Francis' visit.

- Dissidents arrested -

Three Cuban dissidents opposed to the communist regime were arrested as they approached the pope shouting "Freedom!" when he arrived for the mass.

An AFP photographer said the activists -- two men and a woman -- yelled anti-government slogans and resisted by falling to the ground as plainclothes agents detained them when they tried to get near the white popemobile.

The pope, who was busy grasping the outstretched hands of well-wishers on the other side of his vehicle, did not appear to notice.

The protesters were from the Cuban Patriotic Union and "went to the square to condemn repression," said Jose Daniel Ferrer, the leader of the dissident group.

Cuba bans opposition groups and routinely arrests dissidents who try to protest -- typically releasing them after a few hours, at least in recent years.

Several leading dissidents have criticized the pope for not accepting their requests to meet with him during his visit.

The mood was otherwise jubilant on the packed square, where hundreds of excited Cubans and foreign visitors camped out overnight to see the first Latin American pope.

Francis' lone explicit political message was aimed at a Latin American audience: the Colombian government and FARC guerrillas, who have been holding peace negotiations in Havana for nearly three years.

The pope urged them to achieve "definitive reconciliation" and end a conflict that has burned for more than half a century.

Raul Castro and Argentine President Cristina Kirchner were among those in attendance.

The pope will later preside over vespers at Havana Cathedral before holding an unscripted exchange with young Cubans -- a demographic feeling the pain of the communist island's difficult economic transition.

He will travel Monday and Tuesday to the Cuban cities of Holguin and Santiago, before heading off to give landmark addresses to the U.S. Congress and U.N. General Assembly.