AMERICA/CUBA - Cuba prepares to celebrate 10th anniversary of John Paul II's historic visit: ““he Church came out into the open and was seen by the nation and by the world: the Catholic Church was there, full of life and close to the people”

Thursday, 10 January 2008

Havana (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic Church in Cuba is preparing to celebrate an important event on 21 January: the tenth anniversary of the historic visit to the island made by the Servant of God John Paul II 21-26 January 1998. For the occasion, the Pope's secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, will make a brief visit to the country.
The Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, spoke of this anniversary, in an interview with the a local church publication
He began by explaining the situation which allowed the visit and the people involved in its organisations, especially the Nuncio to Cuba at the time Archbishop Beniamino Stella, and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Cuba “who worked in perfect unity with determination and enthusiasm”. The Cardinal said the visit was prepared, “by a state-church commission which worked well and solved difficulties regarding the details of such a visit”. For this reason - the Cardinal observed - even in its preparation, the event “fostered better state-church relations which were to continue after the Papal visit”.
As the day approached “there was missionary mobilisation among Catholics all over the island”. The welcome the Pope received: “was beyond all expectation - the Cardinal said. The people's joy, enthusiasm, discipline resulted in a very positive event.” He added that “the unique visit left its mark on the life of the Church and the whole nation”. It was an opportunity for “the Church to come out into the open and be seen by the nation and by the world: the Catholic Church was there, full of life, close to the people”, Cardinal concluded.
At the end of the last Mass he celebrated in Cuba, in Santiago de Cuba on 24 January, Pope John Paul II announced that he had created a new diocese, the diocese of Guantánamo-Baracoa. Today, ten years on, announcing a special Mass for the occasion, the Bishop of Guantánamo-Baracoa, Bishop Wilfredo Pino Estévez, invited “the whole pilgrim people of God in Cuba” to join in the celebration and he cited Pope John Paul II: “I wish to encourage the clergy and the faithful of the new ecclesiastical circumscription to strive to be living stones around the Bishop and to build up this new particular Church which is born today”.
“Ten years later, with God's many blessings and the missionary work of my predecessor and a small number of priests, deacons, religious and active lay Catholics, those first 19 communities have become 202” the Bishop said in his message. The Mass of thanksgiving will be celebrated Plaza Pedro Agustín Pérez on 24 January. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 10/1/2008; righe 36, parole 510)


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