ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Bishop Felipe Estevez of the Diocese of St. Augustine is having a monumental month. Last week he hosted Cardinal Sean O'Mally for a Mass commemorating the 450th anniversary of the first Catholic Mass on the American continent.
Friday he gave a private tour of St. Augustine's Cathedral Basilica to Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.
"We renovated the Cathedral for the 450th, so we are very proud to show it off to the king of Spain," Estevez said.
On Wednesday, he and other United States' bishops will meet with Pope Francis in Washington, D.C.
"It's very personal and very significant," Estevez said. "He has a vision, a very modern vision of society ... that is concerned about the well-being of the people."
Estevez said he actually was supposed to fly to his native Cuba this week to be on hand for the pope's arrival there Saturday, but he stayed in St. Augustine to meet the king and queen.
Estevez has kept in close contact with family and friends in Cuba and appreciates what the pope has done to help U.S.-Cuban relations.
"The people of Cuba like the American people very much and that liking may be fostered rather than separated," Estevez said.
Local Catholics attending the royal visit said they are thrilled for the bishop.
"I know when he goes to visit with the pope he will bring the heart and the love from St. Augustine and the people of the diocese with him," Brenda Bushell said.
The organizers of the 450th celebrations had invited the pope to visit America's oldest Catholic parish, and some said it's a shame the pontiff didn't stop here.
"I wish that from Cuba he would have stopped in St. Augustine, and I have heard a lot of comments to that effect," one resident said. "Wow, that would have been very possible."
Actually, St. Augustine officials said that would have been extremely difficult to coordinate and secure.