HAVANA (Reuters) -- It was not the titanic clash many had predicted
                  between the 20th century's leading anti-Communist "exterminating angel" and
                  one of its last Marxist rulers, nor did it bring the walls of Fidel Castro's
                  four-decade-old Cuban government tumbling down as his foes had
                  dreamed.

                  In fact, one year after Pope John Paul II's ground-breaking visit to Castro's
                  Cuba-- and as the pope concludes a six-day visit to Mexico and the United
                  States-- not much seems to have changed fundamentally on this Caribbean
                  island, which remains the Western Hemisphere's only bastion of communism.

                  Beyond the hype and below the surface, however, the papal trip set in
                  motion a series of undramatic but significant shifts that have been clearly
                  evidenced in the last 12 months and that should continue playing themselves
                  out into the next century, analysts and diplomats here say.

                  "Remember the church has been around for 2000 years and has learned
                  patience. They weren't looking for instant returns but were sowing seeds for
                  the long-term future," a Latin American diplomat in Havana said.

                  "After the pope came and went without much fireworks the world lost
                  interest and so lost sight of its real significance at a subtler level. The fact
                  your average Catholic no longer fears going to Mass every week speaks for
                  itself, doesn't it?"

                  CASTRO REAPED GAINS OF PAPAL TRIP

                  For many, the biggest winner so far from the papal visit has probably been
                  Castro, despite predictions his downfall would be hastened by the
                  Polish-born pope who was credited with helping end communism in eastern
                  Europe and who was ironically dubbed by Castro himself communism's
                  "exterminating angel."

                  The pontiff's presence to some extent served to legitimize Castro's
                  long-isolated government in the world's eyes and opened the gates to a
                  stampede of visits by high-ranking officials and personalities from around the
                  world.

                  Barely a week went by in 1998 without some high-profile visitor in town,
                  from senior officials such as Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and
                  European Union foreign ministers to Hollywood stars, sportsmen and even a
                  pair of supermodels.

                  That trend has not let up in 1999. In January alone, Castro entertained,
                  among others, the foreign ministers of Belgium and Canada, heads of state
                  from Suriname and Colombia, Venezuela's President-elect Hugo Chavez
                  and hundreds of international economists who attended a conference in
                  Havana.

                  Now Cuba is preparing to host the King of Spain this spring, heads of state
                  from the entire Hispanic world at November's Ibero-American Summit and
                  presidents from around the globe at a Group of 77 meeting scheduled for
                  Havana in 2000.

                  As well as opening the diplomatic floodgates, the pontiff's condemnation of
                  the 37-year U.S. economic embargo on Cuba helped solidify growing world
                  opposition to the sanctions, which is a central plank of Havana's political
                  platform.

                  And, officials say, Cuba got a justified image boost. "The world was able to
                  see our people up close, about whom so much is said abroad," Isidro
                  Gomez of the ruling Communist Party's Office for Religious Affairs told
                  Reuters in an interview. "There was a better diffusion of our reality. That
                  gave the world a positive image. It broke the stereotypes."

                  Gomez said the world was shown specifically that religious freedom does
                  exist in Cuba. "It proved that indeed the churches are alive in Cuba and
                  develop their work and activity without impediment, that the revolution
                  understands their role in society."

                  CHURCH 'CAME OUT OF THE CLOSET'

                  For Cuba's Catholic Church, marginalized for decades after Castro's 1959
                  revolution, the immediate benefits of the visit were obvious: unprecedented
                  access to the island's state-run media, powerful external support, open-air
                  Mass activities and scores of prisoner releases at the Vatican's request.

                  "It was like the church came out of the closet after all these years," one
                  Western diplomat in Havana said.

                  Since then, the church has played a delicate game with the government,
                  seeking to build gradually on those concessions while not antagonizing
                  authorities and halting the process.

                  That policy bore some fruits in 1998: occasional radio appearances by
                  church leaders, albeit on obscure stations; permission to hold unprecedented
                  open-air processions during major festivals; authorization for dozens more
                  foreign and religious workers to move to the island, and a small increase in
                  attendance at churches.

                  At the end of the year, the church plucked its biggest prize to date: the
                  permanent restoration of Christmas Day as a public holiday after its abolition
                  30 years ago.

                  "The church is satisfied with the progress made. It's been slow but has
                  brought concrete things," church spokesman Orlando Marquez told Reuters.
                  "That makes us think that in the future this will continue. ... Things take time.
                  The structures and mentalities of four decades don't change in a year."

                  The "taboo" about being Catholic in Cuba had diminished thanks to the
                  papal trip but not disappeared, Marquez said.

                  "In some places they've authorized processions, but in others not. In some
                  places a young person can wear a crucifix, but in others not. In some rural
                  schools a youngster can carry a Bible, in others not."

                  Among the church's most important outstanding petitions to the state are a
                  return of religious education and more permanent space for Catholics in the
                  mainstream media.

                  Gomez, of the religious affairs office, said there were "perspectives" for
                  giving the church more media access this year. "There is not an opposition to
                  that. We are evaluating how to achieve that space," he said, adding,
                  however, that Protestant, Afro-Caribbean and other religious groups would
                  have to be given equal treatment.

                  But religious education is a nonstarter, Gomez said. The government will not
                  allow a return to "privileged" private schools, and with such a diversity of
                  religions Cuba's national education system cannot adopt just one faith to
                  teach.

                  "Sometimes the (Catholic) church sees this from the point of view that it is
                  the only religion, but it's not." he said.

                  SHOULD CHURCH TURN MORE RADICAL?

                  While the church and government are relatively upbeat about the lasting
                  impact of the pope's trip, Castro's biggest critics in and outside Cuba are
                  scathing. They say Havana has exploited the visit shamelessly to earn
                  political breathing space while offering "crumbs" to the church in return and
                  totally ignoring the pope's calls for greater political freedom.

                  "Just by the pope being on the island it made it seem that Castro had
                  changed his evil tune. But in fact none of that has happened. It's a false
                  impression," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican and
                  hard-line Castro foe.

                  "Changes have been cosmetic and fleeting. We are no more closer to
                  democracy now than before," she said. "There are no less political prisoners
                  now than before, or freedom of press. If we still have all of that, what has
                  been accomplished?"

                  She and others, including exile leaders abroad and dissidents at home,
                  express disappointment that the Catholic Church has not taken a more
                  radical, pro-democracy stance in Cuba as it has in Eastern Europe and
                  Central America.

                  "In Cuba it's almost another arm of the government because they have never
                  wanted to rock the boat," Ros-Lehtinen said.

                  Some exile leaders have hinted the church may be brought to account in a
                  future post-Castro Cuba for its "diplomatic" stance. But more moderate
                  elements praise the church for putting practical results before dangerous
                  posturing.

                  Catholic leaders themselves remain crystal-clear in saying they do not want
                  to become a de facto opposition force to challenge Cuba's one-party
                  Communist system.

                  "The church cannot be the opposition which doesn't exist in Cuba,"
                  spokesman Marquez insisted. "Its function is not a political one ... not to
                  elaborate a transition program."

                   Copyright 1999 Reuters.