pope francis is in the third day of his host toric visit to cuba. he will be here in the united states in less than a day, expected to arrive the a joint andrews air force base at 4 p.m. eastern time. today, the pope delivered mass in holguin and traveling to satiago de cuba. nbc reporter, claudio lavanga, has the latest from havana. the pope s visit to the island finally draws to a close on the second and last full day on the island, he flew out of havana and flew to holguin, east of the island, the first pope to do so even though the third pope to have visited this island in the last 20 years. this morning, he held another open-air mass there in the sweltering heat. it was 95 degrees fahrenheit. it was big humidity, but he solded sold
then, of course, he had a meeting with the current president of cuba. one of the interesting things where we just landed is this is the birth province of the castros. it gives you a little lay of the land. we re expecting pope francis to celebrate mass today at revolution square in holguin. another revolution square, yesterday, we saw him celebrate mass in havana. we re going to take a look and see how what the crowds are like here. if they re anything like we saw yesterday, there s going to be thousands of people waiting to celebrate mass with pope francis. rosa, you gave us the facts as the great journalist you are. you gave us that, but i want the know what it s like on board the plane. where is the pope sitting? has he walked through the plane? have you seen him close up and
pope mobile this time. i m walking out just now, carol, so excuse the noise. we usually see the pope being greeted at the airport. one thing always stands out of the greetings we ve seen at airports in cuba versus other countries, where we have seen the pope before. if you re taking a live look right now, if you re taking the pictures, carol, pope francis just walked out of the aircraft, being greeted by cardinals and other dignitaries. there are children waving cuban flags and receiving the pope here in holguin. this is the birth province of fidel and raul castro. it s interesting. given some of the controversy you were mentioning moments ago involving the pope visiting fidel castro in his home.
with raul castro and fidel castro. threw see the plane that brought him from rome to cuba and is transporting him to holguin. today there will be another mass in holguin, cuba, where our ladies of charity is centered and so he ll be there with the patron saint of cuba. coming up, the latest on the shootings along the phoenix free way and a shooting inside an alabama church leaves three hurt, including a baby and a pastor.
then on to the united states very soon. yes, tamron. the pope has just delivered the homily there during the mass in holguin in which he recognizes the sacrifices and efforts the catholic church had to go through and face since the revolution here in 1959. he has praised the private homes that have been used as houses of prayers by the people here in the absence of churches and priests for the last 60 years. holguin is important because no pope has gone to this town before, even though francis is the third pope that visits this island, has visited this island in the past 20 years or even less, it is famous because it is the birthplace of fidel and raul castro. but it also bears great religious significance because that s where, according to the locals, that s where the patron