Cuban president expresses appreciation for Pope’s teachings
December 03, 2024
» Continue to this story on L'Osservatore Romano (Italian)
CWN Editor's Note: The new apostolic nuncio to Cuba, Archbishop Antoine Camilleri, has presented his credentials to Miguel Díaz-Canel, the nation’s president since 2018 and head of its Communist Party since 2021.
During the November 20 meeting, Díaz-Canel “expressed appreciation for the Holy Father’s closeness to the Cuban people and teachings” and “recalled the visits of three Pontiffs to the island,” the Vatican newspaper reported on December 2.
The meeting with Díaz-Canel took place four months after the archbishop’s arrival on the island. In a July meeting with Anayansi Rodríguez Camejo, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the prelate “emphasized the desire to accompany the local Church closely in its service to society, in the spirit of hope,” according to the Vatican newspaper. Camejo, for her part, “expressed feelings of gratitude towards the Holy Father” during a discussion about “important issues such as peace and environmental protection, interreligious dialogue, and the fight against poverty.”
Archbishop Camilleri was the Holy See’s Undersecretary of State (2013-19) before being consecrated a bishop by Pope Francis in 2019 and serving as apostolic nuncio to Ethiopia (2019-24). In 1998, the future Pope Francis wrote a book about Cuba that was critical of the regime’s Marxist atheism.
The Caribbean nation of 11 million (map), ruled by a Communist regime since 1959, is 62% Christian (55% Catholic) and 17% Spiritist.
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