By Anita Show
Associated Press Writer

HAVANA (AP) -- Felix Varela, a 19th-century priest being honored Friday by Pope John Paul II, is revered by communists and Catholics alike for his work promoting Cuban independence and helping impoverished immigrants in New York City.

"Father Varela is for us, justly, a father, not in the Catholic sense but in the patriotic and revolutionary sense," historian Eusebio Reyes Fernandez, a noted Cuban communist, wrote in a 1989 biography.

Roman Catholics, who hope for Varela's beatification and eventual canonization as Cuba's first saint, emphasize his religiosity.

The pope was to honor Varela during a visit Friday evening to the University of Havana.

Born in Havana on Nov. 20, 1788, Varela studied for the priesthood at San Carlos Seminary. He focused on philosophy and theology while keeping an eye on political events affecting his country.

In the early 1800s, Spain's war of independence against Napoleonic France provoked violent disturbances among the French, who had fled to Cuba following slave revolts in nearby Haiti. Many scholars believe it was during this period that Varela began supporting Cuban independence from Spain.

Ordained in 1811 at the early age of 23, Varela took charge of the philosophy department at San Carlos and began arguing for independence and against slavery, which was still practiced then on the island.

His ideas attracted attention, and before long he was living as a political exile in the United States. He continued advocating Cuban independence and published a newspaper, El Habanero, expounding his views.

By 1827 Varela had his own New York parish, where he focused on ministering to an impoverished and largely Irish immigrant population.

Varela died on Feb. 25, 1853, in Saint Augustine, Fla.. In 1911, his remains were brought to Havana and entombed in white marble at the university's Great Hall, where a plaque recalls him as a "defender of Cuban liberty."

On Thursday, President Fidel Castro presented John Paul with a 120-year-old, leather-bound biography of Varela. The book is one of nine copies in existence.

© Copyright 1998 The Associated Press