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Raul Attends Ceremony on the Occasion of the 20th Anniversary of Fidel’s Meeting with Religious Leaders
CUBA, March 30, 2010. Cuban President Raul Castro attended on Tuesday the political and cultural ceremony held on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Fidel’s meeting with religious leaders.
Leaders and representatives from different religious beliefs and fraternal associations met at Havana’s Jose Marti Memorial. The meeting was also a good opportunity to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the publication of the book Fidel y la religion (Fidel and Religion), by Brazilian writer Frei Betto.
The South American Dominican assessed the repercussion, 25 years later, of the book, which had a print run of over one million copies in Cuba and that was translated into 23 languages and published in 32 countries.
I think that the value of this book, -pointed out Betto- was that it helped people to reflect, to think that among men and women of good will, committed to dreams of justice, there are many more things in common than what can be often found in our wrong teaching of catechism, our clerical arrogance, and our fundamentalist viewpoint.
Reverend Raul Suarez, director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center, recalled the meeting on Cuban religious persons with the leader of the Revolution on April 2, 1990, and gave President Raul Castro a letter signed by all those who participated in the historic meeting.
Overcome by emotion, Reverend Suarez reminded the Cuban president that “you, the Cuban Revolution, and its socialist project, can count on us”.
Another significant moment was the handing over of a Bible to Raul and of a commemorative plaque for Fidel, by Reverend Marcial Miguel Hernandez, President of the National Council of Churches.
The main speech was in charge of Caridad Diego, head of the Office for Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), who affirmed that there’s a lot of work to be done and that work to achieve the unity of believers next to their people should continue, as well as the efforts to strengthen their commitment to their homeland.
Also present in the ceremony were PCC Politburo members Esteban Lazo, Vice-president of the Council of State; Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon; and Culture Minister Abel Prieto, among others. (Cubaminrex- ACN)