“On behalf of the Cuban people and our government, I express my heartfelt condolences on his death,” President Diaz-Canel said.
On Wednesday, Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel decreed official mourning for the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 95.
“On behalf of the Cuban people and our government, I express my heartfelt condolences on the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI,” Diaz-Canel said, stressing that the mourning will last from 06:00 until 12:00 on January 5.
Joseph Ratzinger, the secular name of Pope Emeritus, died at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican, where he had resided as a jubilee since 2013 when he resigned from his post after eight years of pontificate for alleged health problems.
In 2012, he visited Cuba for the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the image of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, the national patron saint, whom he honored in her Sanctuary in Santiago de Cuba city.
Benedict XVI offered one mass in the Revolution Square in the abovementioned city and another in Havana, both of which gathered over 200,000 people.
The Pope Emeritus also met former Cuban President Raul Castro, who agreed to declare Good Friday as a holiday and stressed the excellent relations between the Vatican and his country.
“I take with me, in the depths of my being, every one of the Cubans, who have surrounded me with their affection, making me participate in their deepest and just aspirations,” Benedict XVI said before leaving this Caribbean country. (https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cuba-Declares-Official-Mourning-For-Death-Of-Benedict-XVI-20230105-0002.html)
