As Cubans prepare to celebrate their first official Christmas holiday in nearly thirty years, the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, has spoken of the improving relations between the government and the Roman Catholic Church.

Cardinal Ortega told a news conference that the decision by the Cuban authorities to restore Christmas as a holiday had corrected a past mistake.

But he added that it could take people on the island years to rediscover the true spiritual meaning of the day.

The authorities abolished the holiday in 1969, saying people had to keep working to harvest the sugar crops.