AMERICA/CUBA - Archbishop Mamberti to open a series of conferences on emigration and economy

Havana (Agenzia Fides) – Cuban intellectuals, believers and non believers, resident in Cuba and abroad, will take part in a series of Conferences entitled "Diálogo entre cubanos". The conferences, now in the 10th edition, to be held in Havana 16 - 19 June, will focus on topics such as emigration, economy, and relations between Cubans resident on the island and Cuban communities abroad. “The Catholic Church in Cuba is not unaware or disinterested in social issues. Indeed migration, separation of families, economic difficulties, are important concerns for Catholicism ” said Orlando Marquez, spokesperson for the archdiocese of Havana and editor of the magazine Palabra Nueva.
The series of conferences will open with an address by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Holy See's secretary for Relations with States. This will be the second visit to the Island of an important Vatican official since Raul Castro came into power (February 2008). The Pope's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, travelled to Cuba on the occasion of celebrations in 2008 to mark the tenth anniversary of Pope John Paul II's history making visit to Cuba (21 - 26 January 1998). On that occasion Cardinal Bertone was the first representative of a foreign state to be received by Cuba's new President. Now Archbishop Mamberti is responding to a joint invitation from the local Catholic Church and the Cuban government to take part in celebrations to mark 75 years of relations between Cuba and the Holy See. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 12/06/2010)