With the screening in the Vatican of a previously unreleased documentary about Pope John Paul II\u2019s visit to Cuba, 91 years of bilateral relations and the centenary of the birth of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro were celebrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The presentation of \u201cThe Pope and Fidel: An Unexpected Dialogue at the End of the Century,\u201d a feature film by renowned Italian journalist Gianni Min\u00e1, was attended by the Cuban ambassador to the Holy See, Leyde Rodr\u00edguez, as well as Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who served as apostolic nuncio to Cuba from 2009 to 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also present were Italian filmmaker Loredana Macchietti, widow of the renowned journalist and president of the Gianni Min\u00e1 Foundation, as well as Monsignors Bruno Lins and Francisco Javier D\u00edaz Tenza, officials of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, along with Monsignor Pawel Ptasznik, president of the John Paul II Vatican Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This event, held the previous day as part of the 91st anniversary of bilateral relations, celebrated on June 7, was also attended by members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, officials from the Cuban Embassy to Italy, and Professor Alfredo Luciani, president of the International Association of Missionaries of Political Charity (MCP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Cuban ambassador thanked the Cuban Museum of Culture (MCC) and the Gianni Min\u00e1 Foundation for sponsoring, in coordination with his country\u2019s diplomatic mission to the Vatican, the first-ever screening of this documentary, which recounts, from a historical, religious, and sociological perspective, the apostolic journey to the island of John Paul II, the first pope to visit Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rodr\u00edguez recalled that, at the welcoming ceremony on January 21, 1998, upon being received by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, Pope John Paul II asked \u201cthat Cuba open itself with all its magnificent potential to the world, and that the world open itself to Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The presentation of this documentary about John Paul II\u2019s visit to Cuba, in which Min\u00e1 highlights the participation and reflections of Fidel Castro, the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, was also a tribute to his memory, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, which will be celebrated on August 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The documentary includes statements from renowned religious figures such as the Brazilian Dominican friar Frei Betto; Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Monsignor Carlos Manuel de C\u00e9spedes, vicar general of the Archdiocese of San Crist\u00f3bal de La Habana; and Baptist pastor Ra\u00fal Suarez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also features statements from prominent American figures opposed to their country\u2019s criminal policy against Cuba, a policy that violates human rights, including Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel and Lucius Walker, founder of the organization Pastors for Peace, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the presentation of the documentary, the Cuban ambassador to the Vatican recalled that on January 25, 1998, upon departing after his memorable visit, the Holy Father condemned \u201cthe restrictive economic measures imposed from outside the country\u201d on the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pope John Paul II then described such actions as \u201cunjust and ethically unacceptable,\u201d the diplomat stressed, words that take on particular relevance today, given the intensification of the genocidal economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba by the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the screening in the Vatican of a previously unreleased documentary about Pope John Paul II’s visit to Cuba, 91 years of bilateral relations and the centenary of the birth… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[42],"class_list":["post-11857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuba"],"authors":[{"term_id":42,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"radio-habana-cuba","display_name":"Radio Habana Cuba","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11859,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11857\/revisions\/11859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11857"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=11857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}