Kirill Visit to Cuba entails message of hope

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 11 (acn) The visit to Havana by His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, has been considered a signal of hope for all good-will people.

Kirill is expected to arrive here on official visit on Thursday afternoon in his fourth trip to Cuba, but with the particularity this time that he will meet with Pope Francis at Havana's International airport on Friday, as the Pope makes a stop-over in route to Mexico.
The meeting is a new and significant step towards the improvement of religious links and will have a positive impact on only on relations between the Catholic and the Orthodox churches, but also will favor peace in the world.
The encounter between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill will also ratify Cuba's role as a fertile land for dialog, where other delegations have also negotiated peace.
During his stay in Havana, Kirill will hold official talks with President Raul Castro. He is also scheduled to lay a wreath at the sculpture of Cuban National Hero Jose Marti at the Revolution Square and pay tribute to the International Soviet Soldiers in a pantheon west of Havana.
The Patriarch will also visit a special school for physically challenged children where he will donate wheel chairs.
His Holiness Kirill visited Cuba for the first time in 1995 to revitalize the orthodox community here; then he returned in 2004 to lay the first stone of what would be the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Havana, which was inaugurated during his third visit here in October 2008.
On that occasion, Kirill met with Cuban Revolution leader Fidel Castro, who stressed the ethical principles of the orthodox leader, which was elected Patriarch of Moscow and of all Russia in January 2009.