PRESIDENT Raúl Castro Ruz received Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, during the latter’s official and pastoral visit to Cuba.

In the meeting yesterday afternoon, both representatives had official talks on the Cuban state’s relations with the Holy See and the Catholic Church in Cuba. They also discussed matters of multilateral and international interest.

Also present at the talks on the Cuban side were vice presidents of the Council of State Carlos Lage Dávila and Esteban Lazo Hernández; Felipe Pérez Roque, minister of foreign affairs; Caridad Diego Bella, head of the Religious Affairs Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party; Eumelio Caballero Rodríguez, deputy minister of foreign affairs; and Raúl Roa Kouri, Cuban ambassador to the Holy See.

For his part, Cardinal Bertone was accompanied by Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, archbishop of Havana; Monsignor Luigi Bonazzi, apostolic nuncio in Cuba; Monsignor Juan García Rodríguez, archbishop of Camagüey and president of the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops; Monsignor Juan de Dios Hernández Ruiz, auxiliary bishop of Havana and general secretary of the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops; Monsignor Emilio Aranguren Echeverría, bishop of Holguín and a member of the Standing Committee of the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops; Monsignor Jean Marie Speich, advisor to the Apostolic Nunciature; Monsignor Nicolás Henry Thevenin, secretary of state official ; and Monsignor Lech Piechota, Vatican secretary of state official.

Translated by Granma International 27-02-2008