But a spokesman for Havana's Roman Catholic archdiocese, who is also in charge of media relations for the pontiff's Jan. 21-25 visit, said he had heard nothing about such threats.
``I have nothing on that. I cannot rule out that some individuals may decide to do something like that, that something like this occurs, but up to now I can't say that's government policy,'' Orlando Marquez said.
``In this very complex situation there can be differences -- people who like the pope, people who don't want him coming. But it's not policy, at least not until now,'' Marquez added in a telephone interview from Havana.
The Fides report was the first public allegation that President Fidel Castro's government is trying to interfere and keep crowds down at what Vatican and Cuban church officials hope will be jam-packed Masses.
Fides reported that since about March or April, ``supervisors in factories, hospitals, schools and institutes have threatened that whoever dares to participate in a papal Mass will be fired.''
It said Cosme Ordoñez, director of the Plaza Hospital in Havana, was ``one of the most inclined toward these threats,'' but gave no details. Ordoñez could not be reached for comment.
Fides has a network of part-time correspondents around the world, usually Catholic lay people. Its reports are not considered to be official Vatican statements or reflections of Vatican views.
Saying it obtained its information from ``a group of Cuban faithful, workers and professionals'' on the island, Fides said the threats were part of a campaign ``to spoil the visit'' of John Paul.
``The pressure is being applied especially on [Communist] Party members who sympathize or are close to the church . . . little-convinced Communists who had begun to participate in church meetings or Masses,'' it added.
Missing from functions
``The police are doing the same with us,'' one teacher was quoted as saying. ``They are threatening us and our families if we dare to show our faith in public.''
Police have also been videotaping all of the open-air Masses celebrated around Havana by Cardinal Jaime Ortega in preparation for the pontiff's visit, the Vatican news agency said.
Marquez said Cuban television, foreign news media and tourists have been free to videotape the Masses, ``but I've heard no complaints of that sort to date.''
Fides quoted ``some Cuban observers'' as saying the ``double attitude on religion -- permits on one side, pressure on the other -- is a sign of the division that exists inside the Communist Party itself, which is divided between reformers and conservatives.''
Apparent concerns
Vatican and Cuban church officials have long worried that the government would maneuver to keep turnouts low and easily controllable by withholding promised transportation.
Castro has promised full government cooperation with the logistics of the visit, but Cuba suffers from severe gasoline and vehicle shortages that could make it difficult to get the faithful to papal events.
Poland's communist government and the Marxist-led Sandinista government of Nicaragua both tried to keep down the size of the crowds when the strongly anti-communist pope visited their countries in the 1980s.
Fides is run by a Jesuit priest, the Rev. Bernardo Cervelera, as an arm of the Vatican's Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples.
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald