US diplomats Mike Hammer, chargé d’affaires in Havana, and Brian Burch, ambassador to the Holy See, met this Friday in Rome with the Vatican secretary for Relations with States, Paul Richard Gallagher, to talk about the situation in Cuba and the “important role” of the Catholic church on the island.
The US Embassy to the Holy See reported on its X social network account of Hammer’s visit to Rome “to discuss with the Vatican and the Vatican’s Latin American partners the support of the Trump Administration for the aspirations of the Cuban people to live in freedom.”
The US diplomats also held another meeting with ambassadors to the Holy See from several Latin American countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Costa Rica, with whom they spoke about “how to work together and with the Church to support the desire of the Cuban people to have economic opportunities and freedom,” highlights a report from EFE.
Cuban bishops cancel visit to the Vatican due to fuel problems
Hammer and Burch met with representatives of Caritas International, with whom they discussed “how the Trump Administration is directly supporting the Cuban people by delivering humanitarian aid through the Catholic Church.”
The relationship between the United States and Cuba, which is experiencing its worst crisis in decades, is at a point of maximum tension due to the energy blockade imposed by the Donald Trump Administration on the island, by threatening with tariffs on those who supply crude oil to the Caribbean country.
Pope Leo XIV has recently asked Washington and Havana for “sincere and effective dialogue to avoid violence and any action that could increase the suffering of the Cuban people.”
This Friday he received in audience the bishop of Guantánamo and Baracoa, Monsignor Silvano Pedroso Montalvo, although no details of the meeting have emerged.
The Cuban bishops were supposed to make the traditional ‘ad limina’ visit, which episcopates from all over the world make to the Vatican every five years, but they have been forced to cancel it due to the fuel shortage situation on the island.
However, according to the Aciprensa agencyPedroso Montalvo was received within the framework of the ‘ad limina’ visit. The prelate, said source points out, is one of the 17 bishops that make up the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Cuba, distributed in 11 ecclesiastical circumscriptions—three archdioceses and eight dioceses—that cover the entire national territory.
The Vatican website limited to informing in his bulletin on “Resignations and appointments” that Pedroso Montalvo had been received by Leo XVI in audience.
