Good Friday Declared Cuban Holiday At Pope Benedict's Request

* Benedict sought the holiday in meeting with Raul Castro

* Government will decide whether to make it permanent

HAVANA, March 31 (Reuters) - Cuba has declared next week's Good Friday as a holiday in recognition of a request by Pope Benedict and his "transcendental visit" to the island, state media said on Saturday.

The communist government will decide later whether to make Good Friday, the day Christians commemorate Christ's death, a permanent holiday, it said.

It will be celebrated this year on April 6.

Benedict requested the holiday, part of Easter celebrations, in a meeting on Tuesday in Havana with President Raul Castro, the Vatican said.

After Cuba's 1959 revolution, then leader Fidel Castro ended religious holidays as part of the transformation to communism.

He reinstated Christmas to honor a request by Pope John Paul when he visited Cuba in 1998, in a trip that marked a turn for the better in Church-state relations, which have improved in recent years.

Benedict, who came to Cuba for three days starting on Monday after a stop in Mexico, urged change on the island and asked that the Church be able to do more in a time of potentially painful transition.

President Castro, who succeeded older brother Fidel Castro in 2008, has undertaken economic reforms that will include the slashing one million jobs from government payrolls. (Reporting by Nelson Acosta; Editing by Jeff Franks and Sandra Maler)

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Comments

[ThinkCreeps]

07:06 PM on 04/02/2012

Caption:

Fidel: Well done, Josef. My outdated ideology has been good for about 50 years, but your guys have been playing it for centuries.

[Thomas Dombrowsky]

09:05 AM on 04/02/2012

I hope the Pope realizes that most places where Good Friday is a holiday the people go to the beach, not to church. Just saying.

[Hillbilly49]

06:18 PM on 04/01/2012

If the Pope says we should be nice to Cuba; let's be nice to Cuba.  I have always wanted to SCUBA dive there. 

[zwyziec]

01:21 AM on 04/02/2012

As a certified Master Diver, my buddy and I also have wanted to dive their. Closest we got was Grand Cayman. Right with you on this one!

[RedIvan88]

04:40 PM on 04/01/2012

RIP Fidel Castro

[Hillbilly49]

07:07 PM on 04/01/2012

Castro will out live you !

[RedIvan88]

07:38 PM on 04/01/2012

It was an April Fools Joke but no one took the bait.

And yeah I doubt that because he's old and sick

[Mrs Robinsons]

02:27 PM on 04/01/2012

Can you hear the
sheep and the cows
and the horses
and the dogs...
and the doves...?
they all know him too.

[Nobodys Fool]

01:55 PM on 04/01/2012

2000 Years Later.... Jesus still worshiped by Billions.... Not bad, for someone born in an Animal Barn

[ThinkCreeps]

07:08 PM on 04/02/2012

Barnum sure knew his stuff.

[rsttho557949]

11:50 AM on 04/01/2012

It won’t be too long after Castro passes on that Cuba will return to Western Ways with a stronger connection to God. Communism and Humanism have failed the people and the have realized that. I would expect Cuba to embrace Capitalism and Christianity and become one of the great tourist capitols of the world. Free enterprise, Jesus and the intelligence of the Cuban people could make it one of the greatest countries-in a short time- in the world. But for Cuba to be successful, it MUST have an intimate connection with Jesus so that its citizens will come to understand the productive of productive individuality and personal responsibility. We're not talking about any theocracy but a country that needs to understand that for it to be great, the deity it MUST invite into their lives is Jesus (Psalm 33:12). The motto for the post Castro Cuba should be, "The nation cannot carry the individual but that the individual must carry the nation." This is just another version of "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." The ONLY way that productive individuality and personal responsibility truly works, is when the individual has an intimate connection to Jesus.

[timmuh]

11:45 PM on 04/01/2012

No, Communism has failed the people of Cuba and that nasty embargo, robbing the Cuban people of their dignity, hasn't done them any favors either. Communism and Christianity are ideologically identical in the fundamental assumption that ultimate virtue lies in the sacrifice of the individual to the supposed good of the community. The success of the United States is due to the fact that it was founded on the belief that the individual is of the utmost importance and is free to act in his/hers own best interest. This is of course the complete opposite of the fundamental principles espoused by Christianity or Communism. By the way, they love Jesus a whole bunch in the Philippines and they are broke.

[rsttho557949]

12:10 AM on 04/02/2012

"The success of the United States is due to the fact that it was founded on the belief that the individual is of the utmost importance and is free to act in his/hers own best interest."

That is the basic tenet of Christianity. That philosophy works best when there is an intimate connection with God. Man by himself does have his neighbor’s best interest at heart. The individual has more government intrusion in his life because he has distanced himself from that critical connection with God. Now people (government) are going to MAKE YOU comply with rules and laws. Do right by your fellow man and there is minimal third party intrusion. Again blessed is the nation who God is the Lord (Psalm 33:12). The Philippines are "broke" because they have natural resources but its people. Their greatest imports are nurses and doctors. They seem to be very rich over here in America.

[Ami Toben]

11:29 AM on 04/01/2012

The Vatican: Showing their support for dictators since the 1920s.

[DrJon]

11:25 AM on 04/01/2012

Dr Castro:
Stand firm. Please run out the damned Christians. The are selling the same lie as capitalism.

[RedIvan88]

01:08 PM on 04/01/2012

Yeah look how well communism has worked for the rest of the world

[DrJon]

02:51 PM on 04/01/2012

Thank you for keeping your ideas and observations small-minded. You're a real intellectual!

[firstamendment3]

07:20 AM on 04/01/2012

Each day that the Church gets away with another child rape, covers up the same or fails to justly compensate the victims, is another day that Christ is crucified.

[mscellanus]

06:36 AM on 04/01/2012

Thank you Pope Benedict for your blessings.

[kasel1]

04:25 AM on 04/01/2012

Now there's a picture of a coupla turkeys without a future!

[moneytree1001]

12:18 AM on 04/01/2012

All right!!!! Cuban are making real progressive toward authentic freedom, freedom of religion, freedom of worship and overall democracy. Good for them as they're probably unaware that in the USA, under the current regime, we are loosing ours.

[Capricious Capricorn]

08:02 AM on 04/01/2012

You need to pass some REAL living time in a truely oppressed country. Who is stopping you from going to the church of your choice, to worship or not worship, to pray or not pray, to be a believer or a non-believer in God?

You also need to stop listening to GOP lies!

[moneytree1001]

08:08 PM on 04/01/2012

With the way you sound, you probably cannot anything you put your mind into doing, perhaps ADD? Also, you need to stop listening to the Democrats lies.

[Hillbilly49]

11:02 PM on 03/31/2012

It is so great to see the Vicar of Christ having a photo op with Castro.

[jcshiloh]

03:21 PM on 04/01/2012

Jesus came to save the sinners!

[Tsvi1]

09:00 PM on 04/02/2012

By instituting state holidays!

[kharis]

10:31 PM on 03/31/2012

The Pope is old and washed up....it`s time for him to retire and chase a few habits.