2010-06-18 15:13:14

Cuban Catholic Church hopes Pope can visit in 2012


(June 18, 2010) The Catholic Church of Cuba is hoping that Pope Benedict XVI will visit the nation in 2012, a bishop said on Thursday. “It’s our hope, our interest, that the Pope comes to Cuba in the year 2012,” on the 400th anniversary of the discovery of Cuba's patron saint, said Bishop Emilio Aranguren of Holguin. “It's up to the Holy See,” he said. The Vatican did not comment on it. Pope John Paul II visited Cuba visited in 1998. In 1612, a small wooden statue was found floating off the coast of El Cobre bearing the label, “I am the Virgin of Charity.” The Virgin of Charity was declared the patron saint of Cuba in 1916. Bishop Aranguren's comments came at a briefing on the activities of Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, equivalent to foreign minister, who arrived in Havana on Tuesday to mark the Catholic Social Week and the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the Vatican. Bishop Aranguren said the Vatican official’s visit has nothing to do with a possible papal visit. Archbishop Mamberti will conclude his Cuba visit on Sunday. Cuba continued diplomatic ties with the Vatican, even when the island was officially atheist after the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.







All the contents on this site are copyrighted ©.