General Secretary of the World Council of Churches visits Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 18 (ACN) The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Reverend Jerry Pillay, began on Sunday and until the 19th an official visit to Cuba to show support to the Cuban churches and its people.

In the first day of work in the Caribbean nation, Pillay officiated the sermon of the worship of the third Sunday of Advent in the First Presbyterian Reformed Church of Havana, temple where the Council of Churches of Cuba was founded.

At the meeting, which was attended by representatives of Cuban Christian churches and the ecumenical movement, the sense of religious freedom existing in Cuba prevailed, Pillay said.

According to a Cuban television report, quoted by Prensa Latina, the WCC's top representative acknowledged that religious faith in the Roman Catholic Church and also in the Protestant churches is growing on the island.

The WCC general secretary stated that he met with religious leaders of many denominations, such as the president of the Council of Churches in Cuba (CIC), Yoel Ortega, and was impressed by the freedom with which Cuban believers express their faith.

He highlighted the historical ties that unite the international religious organization and its Cuban counterparts, which allows them to work for the good of the Cuban people.

The religious leader also advocated the removal of Cuba from the U.S. list of countries sponsoring terrorism, while expressing his commitment to peace as an essential part of the WCC's work in transforming the world.

Pillay will hold meetings with the board of directors of the CIC, the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba, representatives of ecumenical movements and religious leaders, as well as with Cuban authorities and will deliver a lecture at the San Geronimo University College in Havana.

The international religious organization has 352 member churches and almost 600 million Christians in 120 countries around the world. For 75 years the WCC has been promoting unity and justice, its highest representative assured.