Cuba Ambassador Meets with Mexican Cardinal

HAVANA TIMES, Feb 14 — Cuba’s ambassador to Mexico, Manuel Aguilera de la Paz, and Mexican Cardinal Norberto Rivera held a meeting on Sunday to exchange details about the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the island in late March, reported the newspaper Impacto.

The Cuban diplomat told the Mexican press that in Cuba “religious freedom is fully guaranteed” and that today, after having overcoming a few “difficulties,” “relations between the Catholic Church and the Cuban government are excellent.”

After the meeting, Aguilera de la Paz and his entourage attended a Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Cuba and Mexico were selected by Pope Benedict XVI as the two Latin American countries for his pastoral visit next month.