BY PEDRO MARGOLLES—Granma International staff writer—

• CARDINAL Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, plans to visit Cuba from February 20 to 26, according to Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque, speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Pérez Roque said that it would be an official and a pastoral visit, and was in response to an invitation from Cuban authorities and from the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Bertone’s planned visit is in the context of the commemoration in Cuba of the 10th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s historic visit to the island.

The cardinal’s schedule during his stay includes planned meetings with Cuban authorities and pastoral activities, including masses in Havana, Villa Clara and Guantánamo. He also plans to bless a monument dedicated to Pope John Paul II in the city of Santa Clara.

EXCELLENT RELATIONS WITH THE VATICAN

Pérez Roque said that the visit is an expression of the excellent relations that exist between the Cuban government and the Vatican. "Communication between our two states is fluid, cordial and respectful," he said.

He said that Cuba and the Holy See agree on diverse issues on the international agenda, including the need to eradicate poverty, the right of all nations to development, and the universal, inalienable, indivisible and interdependent character of human rights for all people, including economic, social and cultural rights.

"We agree on the need to guarantee the right to food and health for all inhabitants of the planet."

The Cuban foreign minister said that "our opinions coincide in terms of criticizing consumerism and neoliberalism, and also in terms of protection of the family, spiritual values and the promotion of culture."

He said that they also agreed on the need to protect the environment, the degree of danger implicated by climate change, the need to defend peace and reject violence and the threat or use of force in relations between states; and likewise, on condemning terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

Pérez Roque said that Bertone’s visit will be an expression of the fluid and respectful communication between the Cuban state and government and the Catholic Church in Cuba, something that is true of all religions, institutions of that nature and fraternal ones that carry out their activities completely normally and under the guarantees established by Cuba’s Constitution and law.

Currently, three archdiocese operate in Cuba, with eight dioceses and 523 parishes, two seminaries and more than 1,500 Catholic Church mission houses, Pérez Roque said, noting that there are 92 Catholic religious orders, both men’s and women’s, "20 more than at the time of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution."

In the last 10 years, more than 1,300 public church processions have taken place, with the participation of more than half a million faithful. Consecrated personnel total almost 1,000 priests, brothers, deacons and nuns.

The Cuban foreign minister said that a new seminary for the Archdiocese of Havana was currently being built with the full support of the Cuban state. He also listed the other Protestant churches and religious denominations in Cuba, including about 1,000 home churches or temples for African-based Cuban religions and more than 400 spiritualist centers, along with 1,000 fraternal associations.

All of them enjoy the equal consideration and respect of the Cuban state, which maintains respectful and regular dialogue with them, Pérez Roque said. The government is making a special effort so that these churches can engage in their work with increasingly more plenitude and greater facilities.

Cuba is receiving Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone at a time when it has diplomatic relations with 186 states. Relations with the Vatican have remained uninterrupted since 1935.

Pérez Roque affirmed that the visit by the high-ranking Catholic Church dignitary will confirm the existence of a people who are dignified, respectful and hardworking, and determined to defend their independence in the face of aggression and slander. •

Translated by Granma International  14-02-2008