BOB ABERNETHY: Now, Perspectives on the pope's visit to Cuba, beginning January 21. Father Tom Reese is an expert on the Vatican and a Senior Fellow of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University in Washington. Tom Gjelten is a diplomatic correspondent for National Public Radio; he's just returned from Cuba and will be there for the pope's visit. And Margaret Crahan joins us from Miami. She's a professor of Latin America history at Hunter College in New York and an expert on religion in Cuba, from which she has just returned, too. Professor Crahan, the pope has a strong history of effective anticommunism, especially in Poland. What are the chances you think that this visit will help end communism in Cuba?

MARGARET CRAHAN (Hunter College): I think the pope is going to take his lead from the Catholic Church in Cuba. The Church, which has repeatedly stated that they do not have a problem with socialism and at least the general direction of the revolution. Therefore, I don't think that they want the pope to come in and to be seen as someone who is opposed to the particular orientation of the present government or to the revolution more generally.

ABERNETHY: So, would you think no revolution following the visit?

Prof. CRAHAN: No, I don't think so. Definitely not.

ABERNETHY: Tom, what do you think? What do you make of it?

Reverend THOMAS J. REESE, S. J. (Author, INSIDE THE VATICAN): Well, in some ways, the revolution has already started. In the last 10 years there has been a much more openness to the freedom of religion in Cuba, and from the film shots that we just saw, we see that, you know, there's a revolution going on in the hearts of the people. They're much more active in evangelizing and there's much more hope. This is what the Pope wants to bring to Cuba, not a violent revolution.

ABERNETHY: Tom Gjelten, you've covered Latin America and Eastern Europe, you're just back from Cuba. What results do you expect from the visit?

TOM GJELTEN (National Public Radio): Well, Bob, I think -- I'd agree with Professor Crahan, that the Church does not want or expect the Pope's visit to be revolutionary, but I think that regardless of what the Church and regardless of what the Cuban government wants, this visit could turn out to be very momentous. Potentially even more momentous than his visit to Poland, because for 40 years, there has been no alternative to Communism, to the state, to the Communist Party in Cuba. Overnight, with the visit of the Pope, the Catholic Church is going to be elevated to a position of leadership in that country just at the time when the system is perhaps on the brink of major change. If we saw Fidel Castro dying in the next few years, or some great economic crisis, the Church, whether it wanted to be or not, would be thrust into a leadership position. I think that's potentially very important.