THE recent fuss over Pope Francis and his remarks about ideology have been misrepresented in the monopoly media as an attack on the Communist Party of Cuba. His words actually expressed a fundamental synergy between his own well-defined critique of capitalist ideology and the Marxist ideas of egalitarian concern for each and every citizen.

Pope Francis is regarded as one of the most left-wing popes, with a history of reaching out to poor people in Argentina and frequently criticising the materialism and consumerism of capitalist economics. The monopoly media have also failed to draw the fundamental connection between Pope Francis and Fidel Castro, which is that they were both Jesuit-educated.

Few socialists probably realise just how deep Castro’s religious convictions and beliefs ran underneath his public Marxist persona. Yet those early formative Catholic experiences that created the character and personal psychology of the revolutionary leader speak volumes about his absolute dedication to liberating the Cuban people and improving living conditions for the poor. Castro cites his Catholic upbringing and his Jesuit tutors at colleges in Santiago and Havana as the most powerful influences on his conviction to liberate Cuba from colonial rule and Yankee imperialism.

A close adviser once told a visiting journalist that Castro was badly misunderstood. “What people don’t realise is that Fidel is a Jesuit first and foremost,” the adviser said, “a nationalist second and then third a Marxist.”

In 1992 Castro visited for the first time the small farmhouse in Galicia, northern Spain, where his father Angel was born.

Castro, at the age of 64, was clearly seeking something that could explain himself to himself, to answer questions he had been asking for decades and to make some sense of his tumultuous life journey. Just before this trip both his step-siblings, Pedro and Lidia, had died — and we know that the death of older relatives is a reminder of one’s own mortality that can stimulate someone to undertake such a long-harboured mission. Castro is quoted at the time of this almost spiritual journey as reflecting on his father’s character, recalling the kindness he showed his estate labourers, his homesickness, his violent temper and, perhaps most poignantly, his sadness.

This may have been a cathartic journey for Castro and it is probably no coincidence that in the same year he removed the atheistic absolute from the Cuban constitution, culminating in the first papal visit to Cuba by John Paul II in 1998. This was repeated by Pope Benedict in 2012, who prayed at a statue of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, Cuba’s official patron saint. The icon was the spiritual focus of Benedict’s three-day visit, timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the appearance of the diminutive statue.

Castro’s childhood presents a picture of a youngster whose Catholic family suffered loss and bereavement before he was even born. His father’s mother died when Angel was a teenager. Castro’s mother Lina was 28 years younger than his father. She was a most devout Catholic and a follower of Santeria, an African-Cuban fusion of high colonial Catholicism with indigenous beliefs. His love-hate relationship with his father is well-documented. So in Castro’s revered Jose Marti, an earlier fervent nationalist, he found the perfect role model — someone who could personify the self-sacrifice and iron will to fight and die for his beliefs. He was an illegitimate child whose parents only married when he was 14, so his formative years were shrouded in shame and embarrassment in a deeply conservative society.

The strongest theme in Castro’s childhood is the overwhelming influence of his family, local culture and education, especially the Jesuit teachers. He cites these teachers as the biggest influence on his life and the foundation of his determination to help the Cuban revolution and liberation of the poor and exploited. 

Castro had to disguise his inner convictions in order to gain the support of the Soviet Union when the US tried to subvert the revolution in the Bay of Pigs debacle in 1961. But he drew enormous strength from his early childhood exposure to Catholic teachings and after the collapse of the Soviet Union he no longer had to disguise his beliefs, which explains the decision to rescind atheist absolutism, paving the way for three papal visits.

As he nears his death, Castro’s Catholicism will very likely become more evident and overt. He has not been drawn to Catholicism in his old age. Rather, he has known nothing else since his early years. It is more a calculation of how and when he could admit to his most profound beliefs. His brother Raul cited his own Catholic beliefs when he visited the Vatican earlier this year to thank Pope Francis for his role in brokering the recent rapprochement between the US and Cuba.

The following words from Castro’s final school report are prescient given they come from those who he cites as being among the most significant influences on him, his Jesuit teachers at Collegio Belen in Havana in 1945: “Fidel Castro Ruz, 1942-1945. He always distinguished himself in all subjects related to arts and letters. An excellent student and member of the congregation, he was an outstanding athlete, always courageously and proudly defending the school’s colours. He won admiration and affection of all. He will study law, and we have no doubt that he will make a brilliant name for himself. Fidel has what it takes and will make something of himself.”

• Fidel Castro’s Childhood: the Untold Story by Steven?Walker is published by Troubadour Publishing (Troubador.co.uk), priced £11.99. Ten per cent of the book royalties will be donated to the children’s orphanage Hogar para nos sin Amparo Filial Bayamo, Reparto Antonio Guiteras in Bayamo, Granma, Cuba. The book can be purchased from Troubador.com.