McClatchy Washington Bureau

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In what may well be a first, a Catholic archbishop worshipped with U.S. troops at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo then turned up across the minefield separating the base from Cuba a day later to offer a Mass for Cuban worshipers in Guantanamo province.

''Many of the servicemen in the Guantánamo base wanted to make this trip with me,'' Archbishop Timothy Broglio was quoted as saying in his homily at Guantánamo Cathedral on June 25.

Broglio, based in Washington, D.C., heads the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, a Vatican operation that ministers to Catholic faithful at U.S. military bases. As a civilian, he's not banned from contact with Cuban officials, as members of the U.S. military are.

The Cleveland native visited the U.S. Navy outpost June 20-23, then visited the Cuban side June 24-25. His office would not elaborate on Thursday, and said the priest was traveling.

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