Pope Faces Controversies Amid US-Cuban Trip

Controversies can never leave anyone unturned, even the highest ranking official of the Catholic Church.

As much as there were cheers, Pope Francis received jeers for a variety of reasons as he visited Cuba and even before he had set foot to the United States.

The pope's maiden voyage to the U.S. capital was marked by a toppled down rate, receiving 56 percent approval ratings from a significantly higher 76 percent last year, according to Gallup as reported by CNN.

Earlier in Cuba, the well-loved pope, known for his critiques against capitalism, led a mass and faintly criticized communist ideologies proliferating in the country. Cuba is among the five communist countries including China, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam.  

"All of us are called by virtue of our Christian vocation to that service which truly serves, and to help one another not to be tempted by a 'service' which is really 'self-serving,'" said the Pope according to a Time report, whilst Cuban President Raul Castro sat among the audience.

The pope, moreover, preached that Catholics should be serving people instead of ideologies.

But the pope did not stop there-he did not only give Fidel Castro a memorabilia, but a gift with an underlying reminder that the Latin American pope wanted to get across.

Pope Francis gave the retired prime minister some presents: an assortment of sermons and two CD recordings by Fidel's former Jesuit teacher, Rev. Amando Lorente.

In a report by Time, Austen Invereigh, biographer of Pope Francis, said that "he thinks the pope is sending a subtle message to a man whose rule was marked by conflict with the Catholic Church and other groups."

While the pope's Cuban trip has been fairly tinted with subtle criticisms that led him into a mild pit of controversy, a new set has welcomed him as he walked through the White House.

Conservatives were disappointed over White House's invitation to gay and LGBT advocates, among of which is an openly gay episcopal bishop and a social activist nun. 

The move initiated by Obama's administration was said to stun Vatican and take offense of the action, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. 

Pope Francis apparently also received some raised eyebrows from Republican presidential candidate and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as the pope meddled in between a political issue between Cuba and the U.S. Earlier, President Barack Obama thanked the pope as he aided in the release of U.S. citizen Alan Gros from the Cuban custody.

"I just think the pope was wrong," he said. "And so the fact is that his infallibility is on religious matters, not on political ones," Christie told to CNN.

But even after all the controversies, this is not the worst that ever happened to a pontiff, a report from Time said. After all, despite a billion followers, there will still be non-believers and it is inevitable for the pope to be safeguarded from criticisms.