Former Cuban President Fidel Castro received the number two of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kiril Gundjaev.The encounter took place as part of Gundjaev’s visit to Cuba, where on Sunday the Russian Orthodox Church Cathedral was inaugurated in front of the bay of Havana, in what was described as "historic event that will open a new page in relations between Cuba and Russia."
Castro, who is 82, is convalescing from an illness that in early 2008 led him to renounce definitively the Cuban presidency, now in the hands of his younger brother Raul.
The ceremony took place in the presence of the current Cuban president, Raúl Castro, who on Sunday had also received the number two of the Russian Orthodox Church, also head of the Department of External Links Church of the Patriarchate of Moscow.
Raúl Castro came to the Cathedral in the company of Havana historian Eusebio Leal, minutes before that the ceremony stared.
The event, which was barred to the international press, was attended by representatives of other faiths and a delegation of about a hundred Russians, including two deputy ministers and representatives of the Russian Duma, headed by first vice president, Liubov Konstantinovna.
The Vatican's nuncio in Havana, Luigi Bonazzi, celebrated the inauguration of the first Russian Orthodox church because "anything that encourages the emergence of religious faith is important, it is an expression to bring God closer to man."
"We are twin churches and each has the chance of having your media is certainly a positive aspect," added Bonazzi.
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(Source: RI)