Mimi Whitfield and Daniel Shoer Roth, The Miami Herald
As the days draw down before Mariana O’Naghten makes a pilgrimage to see Pope Benedict XVI in Cuba, she heads to the chapel of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in South Miami for a daily hour of prayer.
“I’m preparing myself spiritually,’’ said O’Naghten, a Dame of the Order of Malta, one of the Catholic Church’s oldest lay religious orders. “There is a tendency to see this trip through political eyes, but I see it as something spiritual. I’m traveling to support the Church in Cuba.’’
O’Naghten is one of more than 800 people expected to participate in a pilgrimage organized by the Archdiocese of Miami. The pope will arrive in Cuba for a three-day visit next Monday...