Pope Wants Greater Evangelizing in Cuba

HAVANA TIMES, Jan 9 — Pope Benedict XVI called on the Catholic Church in Cuba to “renew its evangelizing dynamism” to allow Cubans to “cope with their daily vicissitudes with strength and love.”

The message was read during a Mass held at the Cobre National Sanctuary, which was officiated by Dionisio Garcia Ibanez, the archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, to launch the “Jubilee Year.”  The reading was broadcast on state television at primetime in the early evening.

In his message, the Pope expressed his wishes and hopes “to soon visit those noble lands” when he comes to the island from March 26 to 28.

The ceremony was attended by the island’s bishops, among them Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, according to a note released on Saturday by the website of Vatican Radio.