1.   Cuba is the only Spanish-speaking country in the Americas that the pontiff has not visited.

2.   In Cuba, where the pontiff visited last January, church leaders report only limited progress toward political reforms since the papal visit.

3.   McCarrick said church officials have briefed the Vatican on the immigration controversy, and also provided information about the ethnic makeup of the dioceses the pontiff will visit.

4.   Before his weekly address, the pontiff visited a working-class area on the southern edge of Rome that has hundreds of African immigrants.

5.   Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana distributed a press release just before celebrating Mass on Friday, confirming that the pontiff will visit Cuba in January.

6.   Earlier Sunday, the pontiff visited a parish church in central Rome and met with a small group of children.

7.   On Sunday, the pontiff visits the Omayyad Mosque in Damascus.

8.   On his way back, the pontiff visited a small convent at Kalatowki and sang with the nuns.

9.   The pontiff has already visited the mostly Orthodox nations of Romania and Georgia, but protests were limited and the pope went ahead with the soil-kissing ceremonies.

10.   The Vatican dismissed rumors that Pope John Paul II might resign because of ill health with the announcement that the pontiff will visit Ukraine in June.