Pope Francis received Miguel Díaz-Canel today, in the first audience held in the Vatican between the two and in which they talked for 40 minutes. The visit was kept secret until this week, when both sides confirmed what had been circulating as a rumor. It is expected that among the issues on the table has been the release of Cuban political prisoners, in whose negotiation the Catholic hierarchy plays an important role.
Díaz-Canel and his wife, Lis Cuesta, were received at 9:50 a.m. local time by the head of the Prefecture of the Papal Household, who is in charge of protocol, Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, while a few meters from the Vatican a dozen of Cuban demonstrators living in Italy protested against the Pope’s reception of the Cuban president. Wrapped in the Cuban flag and to the rhythm of the country’s music, the opponents of the regime shouted slogans against political repression, forced exile and the Vatican’s legitimization of the Díaz-Canel government.
The president held his first meeting with the pontiff in the office adjacent to the Paul VI classroom, where major events are held in the Vatican, and during which both leaders exchanged gifts. Francis gave him a bronze work of art representing a dove carrying an olive branch, with the inscription “Be messengers of peace”, in addition to this year’s Message for Peace. For his part, Díaz-Canel gave the Pope a sculpture in silver, bronze and wood, entitled The reader, and two volumes of Cuban poets.
The leader thus becomes the third Cuban president to travel to the Vatican since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959
After the meeting, the Cuban president met at the Secretary of State with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, whose meeting and issues discussed, including the request for the release of prisoners, will be reported later by the Vatican.
The leader thus becomes the third Cuban president to travel to the Vatican since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, since his predecessors, Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl, did so, respectively, in 1996 and 2015.
The meeting takes place a few days after, last Friday, the Pope’s return to the Vatican after nine days hospitalized for an operation due to an abdominal hernia.
With Raúl Castro, Pope Francis spoke for an hour also in this room of the Paul VI Hall. This will be the fourth contact between the current president and the Pope: the first was in March 2013, when the Cuban president, then first vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers, attended his enthronement as Pope; in September 2015, on the occasion of Francis’ visit to Cuba, and in February 2016, during the meeting between the Supreme Pontiff and the Patriarch of Moscow, Kiril, in Havana.
The meeting takes place a few days after, last Friday, the return to the Vatican of the Pope after nine days admitted to the hospital for an operation due to an abdominal hernia
The Cuban delegation is also made up of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, several deputy ministers of that portfolio, and the first deputy minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Ana Teresita González Fraga, among other executives.
Although the issues that were discussed at this meeting are unknown, one issue that both parties have pending is that of those arrested and convicted in the largest anti-government protests in Cuba in decades, on July 11, 2021, for the most part peaceful and spontaneous. .
Cardinal Beniamino Stella, who visited Cuba last February to commemorate the 25th anniversary of John Paul II’s visit, explained then that he had conveyed Francis’ message of the release of these prisoners.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio He is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for accompanying us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
