Havana, September 11 (RHC)-- Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints of the Holy See is in Cuba to officiate a Mass for the recently deceased Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino.

The High ranking Vatican official was welcomed by Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel on Tuesday.

During the encounter, both parties exchanged on relevant issues of the bilateral agenda and the positive status of relations between Cuba and the Vatican, which will mark their 85th anniversary in 2020.

The dialogue made it possible to verify the coincidence of positions on issues such as the preservation of peace, the fight against poverty, inequality and social exclusion, as well as the protection of the environment.

Accompanying the distinguished visitor were Monsignor Giorgio Lingua, Apostolic Nuncio to the Republic of Cuba, and Monsignor Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez, Archbishop of Havana.

On the Cuban side were present the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, and Caridad Diego Bello, head of the Office of Attention to Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.