HOLY FATHER ASKS CUBAN PRESIDENT TO RE-ESTABLISH GOOD FRIDAY AS A HOLIDAY

Vatican City, 27 March 2012 (VIS) - Having completed his visit to the Shrine of "Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del Cobre", the Holy Father was taken to the airport of Santiago de Cuba where he boarded a flight for the nation's capital city Havana.

The Pope arrived at Jose Marti airport at midday local time (7 p.m. in Rome), where he was welcomed by Raul Castro, president of Cuba, who had not been scheduled to be present; by Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, archbishop of San Cristobal de La Habana, by the local authorities and by hundreds of children holding white and yellow flowers.

After having had lunch at the apostolic nunciature, Benedict XVI travelled by car to the Palacio de la Revolucion where he paid a courtesy visit to President Raul Castro. Since 1965 the building complex known as Palacio de la Revolucion has been home to the Council of State, the Office of the President, the Council of Ministers and the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party.

Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. described the meeting between the two men as "long, cordial and serene". Their discussions, he said, had focused on the condition of the Cuban people, including humanitarian issues and the Church’s expectations in her service of the common good. The Pope also made a specific request for Good Friday to be re-established as a holiday.

At the end of their meeting the Pope and President Castro exchanged gifts. Benedict XVI gave the Cuban leader a facsimile of Ptolemy's "Geography", and the president gave him a bronze reproduction of "Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del Cobre". The Holy Father then returned to the apostolic nunciature where he dined with Cuban bishops.