“Satisfaction” with papal envoy
Cuban
Radar Read Spanish Version
"Satisfaction"
with papal envoy’s visit
A
service by the Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau
Cuban
President Raúl Castro met with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the
Vatican’s secretary of state, on Tuesday, February 26. The Cardinal
was on an official and pastoral six day visit to the Island-nation on
the 10th
anniversary of the visit to Cuba by Pope John Paul II. With the
meeting, Bertone became the first foreign dignitary received by
Cuba’s new president.
The
official daily Granma
succinctly
reported that Castro and Bertone "examined the situation of the
Cuban government’s relations with the Holy See and the Catholic
Church in Cuba." No more details were given, except that both
leaders "exchanged ideas on issues of multilateral and
international interest."
Nevertheless,
taking into account the mutual praise by the Cardinal and Cuban top
officials, the visit appears satisfactory for both parties. Later in
the evening, at the airport, shortly before returning to Rome,
Bertone once again commented to the press his satisfaction with the
collaboration from the authorities and thanked President Castro for
his warm welcome. Earlier in the afternoon he had visited the Latin
American School of Medicine (ELAM), one of Cuba’s proudest
accomplishments, where students with few resources from Third World
countries — and even from the U.S. — study to become medical
doctors, with full scholarships granted by Cuba.
According
to Granma,
Bertone declared that ELAM "is an eminent sign of Cuba’s
international vocation. “Internationalist aid,” as it is called
in Cuba, is considered one of the most precious revolutionary virtues
in the island.
When
Cardinal Bertone was told about the project devised by Fidel Castro,
he said that in ELAM, ideas of cooperation and solidarity are
defined. He stressed "Solidarity with the poorest and neediest"
in a world in where the right to health care is not shared by all.
Later
he expressed his "gratitude to the noble Cuban nation for this
constant academic effort" that allows students from different
countries "to train in a field as fundamental as health for the
development of the people," and reminded (the students) that
they will need not only sound professional training, but also a
"training of the heart."
The
previous day, Monday, February 25, Bertone and Cuban Minister of
Foreign Relations Felipe Pérez Roque held a joint press
conference where mutual praises were heaped, and criticism of U.S.
policy was discussed.
Both
leaders mentioned their satisfaction for the official talks and
underscored that there were "fundamental coincidences" in
issues of Cuban and Vatican foreign policy.
Cardinal
Bertone said that Benedict XVI has made John Paul’s words his own,
who described the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba as "ethically
unacceptable" and a "violation of the Cuban people’s
independence". Bertone stressed that family is an institution
privileged by Christian churches, and for this reason he has
requested of Washington to allow relations between families on both
sides of the Florida Straits, referring to the limitations that the
Bush administration has imposed on travel to the island.
Regarding
relations between the Church and the government, the Cardinal made a
positive evaluation of the will for dialogue expressed by political
authorities.
In
closing, he announced that Pope Benedict XVI will travel to the U.S.
next April to speak before the UN General Assembly. Both the Cuban
authorities and the Catholic hierarchy in Cuba have invited His
Holiness to visit the island, and although there has been no official
announcement, some observers say that a stopover by the Pope on his
flight back to Rome from New York is not a far-fetched idea.
Cuban artists win
Monument of Che Guevara prize in Spain
The
Cuban National News Agency reported that Cuban artists Juan
Quintanilla Álvarez and Karoll William Pérez won first
prize of the Monument to Che Contest, hosted by the town of Oleiros
in Galicia, Spain.
The
work in steel and stone, considered by experts as very complex due to
its height of eight meters, will be built on that location by both
artists, who named the piece "Heroic Guerrilla".
Quintanilla,
Professor Emeritus of Cuba’s Higher Institute of Art, is considered
one of the country’s foremost sculptors and many of his pieces are
part of private collections and museums in the United States, France,
Spain, Russia, Dominican Republic, Czech Republic, among other
countries.
Karoll
studied in San Alejando Art Academy and is also a well-known
performer, songwriter and co-leader of the rap band Hoyo Colorado
(Red Hole).
Catholic
bishops pray for Cuba
On
February 25, the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops released a
declaration in which they ask "the Lord and the Virgin of
Charity, our Mother, Patron of Cuba, that the new Assembly
(parliament) that has just been installed, the Council of State and
its new President receive the light from above in order to carry out
decisively those transcendental measures that we know must be
gradual, but that should begin to satisfy from this moment the
expectations and concerns expressed by Cubans."
The
communiqué is coincidental with the visit of Cardinal Tarcisio
Bertone, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, who said Mass on the
portico of the Havana Cathedral and unveiled, in the city of Santa
Clara, a statue of John Paul II, as a remembrance of the late pope’s
visit to Cuba. Bertone also visited Santiago de Cuba and El Cobre
sanctuary, where the Cuban faithful worship their holy patron, the
Virgin of Charity, and subsequently made a tour of the city of
Guantánamo, in eastern Cuba, close to the U.S. Naval Base
turned into prison camp.
Relations
between the Cuban government and the island’s Catholic Church seem to
have found a road not only for achieving a more relaxed climate, but
also in some fields of possible collaboration. Foreign correspondents
comment that both parties apparently are stressing points in common
and avoiding what could separate them.
