Pope Francis' role in US-Cuba thaw leaves some Cuban-American Catholics feeling abandoned

In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, Rev. Juan Rumin Dominguez talks to a reporter at Our Lady of Charity Catholic church in Miami. Many Catholics have expressed pride in seeing Francis stirring hopes of progress in communist Cuba, but some Cuban-Americans say their spiritual leader betrayed them (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) (The Associated Press)

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In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, Larisa Alonso talks to a reporter at Our Lady of Charity Catholic church in Miami. Many Catholics have expressed pride in seeing Francis stirring hopes of progress in communist Cuba, but some Cuban-Americans say their spiritual leader betrayed them (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) (The Associated Press)

In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, anti-Castro protester Jay Fernandez holds a a sign in the Little Havana area of Miami. Many Catholics have expressed pride in seeing Francis stirring hopes of progress in communist Cuba, but some Cuban-Americans say their spiritual leader betrayed them. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) (The Associated Press)

MIAMI – The efforts of Pope Francis to foster a thaw between the U.S. and Cuba has caused some fractures among Catholics in Miami.

Though many Cuban-American Catholics praise the pontiff for encouraging progress, others feel betrayed by their spiritual leader.

Those who equate Raul Castro with the devil are incensed by the pope's diplomacy. Cuban exile Efrain Rivas says he feels abandoned, calling himself "a Catholic without a pope."

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski tells The Associated Press in an interview that some Cuban-American Catholics are indeed "concerned or suspicious" about abandoning U.S. efforts to isolate Cuba.

But the top Miami church leader says, "you can't build a future on top of resentments."