The Vatican's secretary of state said he had asked Cuban leaders for "gestures of reconciliation" and confirmed he would be the first foreign official to be received by the island-nation's new president, Raul Castro.Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who arrived Feb. 20 for an official and pastoral visit, met Feb. 25 with Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque.
At a press conference after that meeting, he said he hoped his encounter with Castro would be one of "clarity, sincerity and sharing of ideas." Raul Castro was chosen Feb. 24 to lead the country after his brother, Fidel Castro, resigned.
He also called the U.S. embargo against Cuba "ethically unacceptable" and said the Vatican is trying "to push the United States to eliminate it."
"It is a violation of the independence of the people," the cardinal said. "The Vatican confirms this position."
The cardinal also said he personally had asked "the United States government to facilitate the reunification of families" with members in Cuba and in the United States. "It is a humanitarian instrument."
"We will do everything possible in this direction," the cardinal said.
Sources at the Cuban bishops' conference said that Cardinal Bertone and the new president would meet the afternoon of Feb. 26, just hours before the prelate was to end his visit, which marked the 10th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's trip to Cuba in January 1998.
The cardinal said he had arrived in Cuba "at a special, extraordinary moment" and said he believed that "Raul Castro will continue ... with a vision ... of development" both in Cuba and in Cuba's relations with other countries.
Cardinal Bertone said that "relations with Cuban authorities are excellent" and expressed his thanks for "all the assistance" they provided during his travels around the island. He said he had the chance to "discuss various problems face to face and to share various goals" with Cuban leaders, and he said it was important that he had never before been able to "speak with Cuban authorities as much as during this third visit."
The cardinal visited Cuba in 2001 and 2005, before he became secretary of state. He said he hoped that relations between the church and the Cuban government would "continue to mature" and said "there is a visible way forward" in relations.
He also conveyed a "respectful greeting to (retired) President Fidel Castro," recalling that "he has spoken so highly of (Pope) John Paul II, (Blessed) Mother Teresa of Calcutta and (Pope) Benedict XVI."
On Feb. 19, Fidel Castro, who had led Cuba since the 1959 revolution, announced that he was stepping down. He has not appeared in public since a serious illness and surgery in July 2006 forced him to hand over affairs of state to his brother, Raul.
Cardinal Bertone said the recent release of some political prisoners by the Cuban government was a positive gesture and said the church had not asked Cuban officials for amnesty, but for "gestures of reconciliation."
In mid-February Cuban officials freed seven prisoners, including four members of a group of 75 dissidents jailed in 2003. The freed prisoners traveled to Spain after their release.
"Good gestures, like those it made in the time of John Paul II, like those it made ... with the release of some prisoners, are positive gestures that help reconciliation, that give signs of hope," the cardinal said.
He said the Vatican asks for "gestures of reconciliation among all parties, all forces here in Cuba." He said the church has asked to be allowed to provide spiritual aid to "prisoners of all types," saying that "is not a political problem for us -- it is a humanitarian problem, a matter of spiritual assistance."
Earlier, Cardinal Bertone traveled to the Diocese of Santa Clara, in the center of the island, and the eastern Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo-Baracoa, Cuba's newest diocese.
In Santa Clara, he dedicated and blessed the first monument built in Cuba in honor of Pope John Paul, saying that the message the pope carried to the island in 1998 is still relevant today.
The monument, donated by the Vatican, is located on a thoroughfare popularly known as "Pope Street."
From there the cardinal traveled to Santiago de Cuba, the island's second-largest city, and visited the sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, the patroness of Cuba, and prayed the rosary with several thousand pilgrims.
Cardinal Bertone urged Catholic youths to "work for the good of all, and for those who need it most: the poor, the marginalized, the excluded, the ill and those of your age, who are often, because of their youth, the most vulnerable."
He offered a message of encouragement and hope, telling Cubans that they can "count on the closeness" of Pope Benedict.
The trip through eastern Cuba, following in Pope John Paul's footsteps, ended in Guantanamo, where the cardinal presided at an outdoor Mass and dedicated and blessed the new diocesan offices.
On Feb. 25, Cardinal Bertone gave a talk at the University of Havana.
On Feb. 26, his last day in Cuba, he was scheduled to meet with Salesians and visit the Latin American Medical School before meeting with the country's new president.
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