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

PASTORAL VISIT

While at the Navy base, Broglio made a typical pastoral visit, conducted confirmations, and socialized with U.S. forces at both the detention center and the century-old naval station, said Navy Chief Bill Mesta.

He visited a portion of the 17.4-mile fence, topped with barbed wire and stadium lighting, where U.S. Marines keep watch. He came and went like any visitor -- by aircraft -- not through the minefields, Mesta said.

''The main crux of his tour was visiting the religious community down here,'' the Navy spokesman said.

The Cuba side of the story comes from the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba website, which quoted Broglio as relaying the ''affection of the people of the United States of America'' in a homily.

''It is true that the recent history of relations between our respective governments is not easy or happy,'' he was quoted as saying. ``Nevertheless that does not have to create an obstacle between believers from one part of the world and another.''

``Let us pray to God that someday we may share a service together, without separations.''

U.S. troops, he said, were keen to visit beyond the base, now separated by a Cold War-era Cuban minefield, in order to visit a cemetery shared by Cuban and U.S. sailors as well as the historic San Juan Hill where, he said, with ``the blood of both people, the freedom of this brotherly nation was won.''

Catholics have made pastoral visits to both the base and the Cuban-controlled territory in recent years.

COMPLICATED VISIT

What made this visit unusual was that Broglio turned up on the other side of the fence a day later, which was a feat, given the complications of travel to and from the remote base as well as limitations on U.S. citizens' trips to Cuba.

Military sources said he left the base in a plane for another Caribbean country, then flew on to Havana.

The Department of State had no details on Friday.

Cuban children presented the archbishop with a series of gifts, according to the Conference of Bishops website, in a ceremony held to the strains of Guajira Guantanamera -- a Cuban flag, book, music CD, coffee and coconut as well as a photo of the patron saint of Cuba, whose shrine he visited.

It also noted that his remarks were delivered in ''perfect Spanish,'' likely refined through a decade of service at the Vatican handling Central American affairs, followed by Vatican duties for the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

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