Cuba's Roman Catholics have a Christian duty to be good citizens under Fidel Castro, a papal envoy said in a rare Vatican mission to officially atheist Cuba.

French Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran's five-day trip to Cuba is expected to lay the groundwork for a visit by Pope John Paul II next year.Tauran met privately Sunday with Catholics in Havana.

As Christians, Catholics are obligated to support the "social, economic and political development of the nation," an assistant quoted Tauran as saying. Excerpts of his comments were carried by Mexico's government news agency, Notimex.

After Cuba's revolution in 1959, the Communist government instituted atheism as state policy and encouraged any practice of religion to be done in private.

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Only recently have Communist leaders said that religious beliefs would not preclude people from party membership.

On Saturday, about 2,000 Catholics attended a Mass in Pinar del Rio, 115 miles west of Havana. "Tell the pope that we invite him to visit us," a banner carried by some young people said.

As the Vatican's foreign minister, Tauran may also help arrange a meeting between Castro and the pope during a world food summit in Rome next month.

Tauran is the highest-ranking Vatican official to visit Cuba in 22 years.

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