CUBAN GIRL HOLDS POPE POSTER, 1998-01-14 (photo)

FOR RELEASE WITH STORY BC-POPE-CUBA-CHURCH - Viviana Diaz, 9, looks at her poster of Pope John Paul II that she received from Cuban church officials in Santa Clara 13 January. The pontiff will hold a mass in Santa Clara January 22 on the second day of his 5-day visit to Cuba. The Communist government has only in recent years loosened up on official atheism that cast a long shadow over religion. A rise in the number of faithful, reflected in big increases in baptisms and in fuller churches, began in the 1980s and continued as the government officially signaled a more tolerant attitude in the early 1990s. CUBA FEATURE