Text of report by Cuban Rebelde radio on 20th December

On the occasion of his forthcoming visit to Cuba, His Holiness John Paul II has sent a message to the island, which is addressed to the brothers in the episcopate, priests, clergymen, the faithful and all Cubans.

This message is datelined the Vatican, 20th December, and in one of its paragraphs states:

Dear Cubans, as the moment in which I will kiss your ground approaches, I address all of you, without regard for creed, ideology, race, political opinion or economic situation.

And the message from His Holiness continues:

I would like my words to reach both those who have the grave responsibility of guiding the fate of the nation and the most humble citizens, wishing everyone prosperity, happiness and peace.

In the meantime, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, on Thursday afternoon [18th December] held a meeting at the Palace of the Revolution with the Standing Committee of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba, led by His Eminence Jaime Ortega, cardinal and archbishop of Havana, with Monsignor Pedro Meurice, archbishop of Santiago de Cuba; Monsignor Adolfo Rodriguez, bishop of Camaguey; and Monsignor Emilio Aranguren, bishop of Cienfuegos, in attendance.

The members of the Standing Committee thanked the commander-in-chief for the willingness and efforts made by Cuban authorities to guarantee the success of Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba in January 1998.

The meeting lasted several hours and was held in a constructive and friendly atmosphere, as a follow up to the meetings held between Catholic Church authorities and representatives of the Cuban political leadership over the past years.

[The Mexican news agency Notimex reported that announcers on state-owned radio and television in Cuba on 20th December "performed an unusual gesture by reading the Christmas message from Pope John Paul II before the priests in nearly 800 churches across the country" had done so. The agency said that Radio Reloj began its daily transmission by reading the text of the message and repeated it every half hour. The message was also published in full in that day's edition of the Communist Party daily `Granma'.]

Source: Radio Rebelde, Havana, in Spanish 1800 gmt 20 Dec 97

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
 

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