Vatican welcomes Cuba granting Good Friday holiday

(April 02, 2012) The Vatican has welcomed the Cuban government’s decision to honour Pope Benedict XVI’s appeal to declare this week’s Good Friday a holiday; though a decision on whether the move will be permanent will have to wait. In a statement on Saturday the Communist government said that the decision was made in the wake of the success of what it described as Pope Benedict's "transcendental visit" to the country. Pope Benedict visited the island nation March 26-28 after visiting Mexico March 23-26. "The fact that the Cuban authorities quickly welcomed the Holy Father's request to President Raul Castro, declaring next Good Friday a non-work day, is certainly a very positive sign," said Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi. "The Holy See hopes that this will encourage participation in the religious celebrations and joyous Easter festivities, and that the visit of the Holy Father will continue to bring the desired fruits for the good of the church and all Cubans," Fr. Lombardi added.
The Cuban government said the Council of Ministers, Cuba's supreme governing body, will decide later whether to make the holiday permanent. Pope Benedict's appeal was reminiscent of his predecessor Pope John Paul II's 1998 request that Christmas be restored as a holiday. Shortly after establishing his Marxist revolution in 1959, Fidel Castro declared Cuba an “atheist” state and all but shut down the Roman Catholic Church on the island, abolishing religious holidays. Good Friday is the day Catholics commemorate the death of Christ, but it is not a holiday in the United States, most of Europe or even Mexico. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, Cuba, Fidel Castro removed references to atheism from its constitution, and relations have warmed with the Catholic Church. Still, less than 10 per cent of islanders are practicing Catholics.