MIAMI — Beyond strengthening the Catholic faith in Cuba, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski said that he hopes Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to Cuba in March will offer a message of reconciliation to Cubans.

“I hope the pope will promote the idea of reconciliation. ... I’m talking about the reconciliation of people,” Wenski said, noting the frustration and distrust that sometimes exists among Cubans on the island, and the separation of those in exile.

After visiting Mexico, the pope will fly to Santiago, Cuba, on March 26 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin de Caridad de Cobre (Our Lady of Charity) — Cuba’s patron saint. He also plans to visit the virgin’s shrine in the small town of El Cobre, and then go to Havana, where he will take part in a Mass in the Plaza of the Revolution — the same square where hundreds of thousands of people heard Pope John Paul II celebrate Mass in 1998.

Benedict, Wenski said, will visit Cuba “to affirm the faith of the church and also perhaps to open up Cuban society to the world. Pope Benedict has said on many occasions that a world without God is a world without hope; it’s a world without a future.” >

Wenski noted the frustration often expressed by Cuba’s young people, and said the pople would not only be “inviting people to open themselves up to God and to the value faith can bring” but also “inviting people to rediscover a future by rediscovering hope.”

While the visit is a spiritual event, Wenski said it — like John Paul’s trip to Cuba — could have broader implications for Cuban society.

Wenski and Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega have used the phrase “a springtime of faith” that echoes the phrase “Arab spring,” a term used to describe the pro-democracy uprisings sweeping the Arab world.

“When the cardinal talks about a springtime of faith, was that an accidental choice of words?” Wenski asked during a visit to The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald.

In any future political transition in Cuba, he said, “what we should all be looking for is a soft landing ... not chaos.”

In the early days of the Cuban revolution, the Catholic Church was marginalized, Catholic schools were closed, priests and nuns sent into exile and the open practice of the faith was discouraged.

But in recent years, the Catholic Church has gained space in Cuban society. In 2010 and 2011, Ortega was a key figure in negotiating the release of political prisoners with President Raul Castro, and last month, as a humanitarian gesture, Castro released 2,900 inmates, including a small number of political prisoners, from Cuban jails.

Asked if the recent release was linked to the pope’s upcoming visit, Wenski said he had no direct knowledge that it was, but added, “There could be some connection to it. The fact they were released in time for Christmas probably says something.” It also, he said, could be a response to serious prison crowding.