Castro meets with bishops to celebrate 70th anniversary of relations between Holy See and Cuba

Havana, Cuba, Nov 17, 2005 / 22:00 pm

Cuban president Fidel Castro met with the country’s bishops Wednesday night to mark the 70th anniversary of official relations between Havana and the Holy See.  The Apostolic Nuncio to Cuba, Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi, was also present at the meeting.

According to the Communist daily Granma, the meeting took place in “a constructive and friendly atmosphere” and “matters of mutual interest were addressed, in keeping with spirit bequeathed to our country, the world and the Church itself by Pope John Paul II, the untiring fighter for ecumenism, unity, and cooperation among the diverse religious denominations, the fight against poverty and for peace in the world.”

During the meeting, Castro recalled the visit of John Paul II to Cuba and said the greatness of the late Pontiff “was his genius of seeing and understanding the problems of today’s world.”