Thousands of people took to the streets to greet and wave Cuban flags along the streets of the capital Havana on September 19 to welcome Pope Francis to the island nation.

PopeFrancis (right) and President Raul Castro - Photo: theepochtimes.com

“This is a visit for all Cubans, all those who want peace, not just Catholics,” Orlando Alfaro, 43, who works for a travel agency in Havana, told USA Today.

Peace and reconciliation will be the main themes of the Pope's four-day visit to Cuba, starting on September 19 and taking in Havana, Holguin and Santiago de Cuba.

PopeFrancis greets the Cuban people - Photo: AP

This is the first visit by Pope Francis, 78, to Cuba, but the third by a pope to the island in just two decades.

Pope John Paul II made a groundbreaking, high-profile visit to Cuba in 1998, followed by Pope Benedict XVI's 2012 visit.

The trip is all the more significant because Pope Francis played a key role in helping to restore diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba with his personal letter to US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro in 2014, urging them to end the hostility between the two countries that dates back to the Cold War.

Pope Francis' global appeal as the first Latin American pope in history and his ability to speak in Spanish will make the trip even more special for Cubans.

President Castro and senior members of the Cuban Church welcomed the Pope at Jose Marti International Airport with solemn ceremony.

“In recent months we have witnessed an event that gives us great hope: the process of normalization between two peoples after years of tension,” the pope said in Spanish. “I urge political leaders to continue on this path and to develop it to the fullest.”

President Castro thanked the pope for his role in bringing the United States and Cuba closer together, and reiterated his call for an end to the US embargo against Cuba.

Cuban people welcome the Pope - Photo: AP

“The establishment of diplomatic relations is the first step in the process of normalizing relations between the two countries,” said Mr. Castro.

The pope then traveled in his custom-made car, with a bulletproof glass back and a stand-up compartment, from the airport to his residence in Havana, to a warm welcome from people lining the road.

Next Tuesday, September 22, the pope is scheduled to travel to the United States, where he will meet with Mr. Obama on the morning of September 23 and preside over a canonization ceremony in Spanish, the first on American soil, of Junipero Serra, a Spanish Franciscan friar who founded an 18th-century mission in what is now California.

According to TTO