Rome, November 23  (RHC)--  C conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Legal Sciences-History of Law to Havana City Historian, Eusebio Leal.

Directors, professors, and students of the university located in the premises of the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran attended the ceremony which was also attended by representatives of other areas of the Catholic Church.

The Cuban Ambassadors to the Holy See, Jorge Quesada, and to Italy, José Carlos Rodríguez, attended the event along with officials and workers from both missions, as well as other representatives of the diplomatic corps.

Ambassador Quesada read a biographical synthesis of Leal, while Cardinal Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, and apostolic nuncio in Cuba between 1992 and 1999, offered his praise.

Born in Havana on September 11, 1942, and recognized worldwide for his role in the restoration and preservation of the historic center of the Cuban capital, Eusebio Leal is a prominent intellectual, with an extensive political, professional, teaching and academic career.

The ceremony concluded with the presentation of a video with excerpts from the keynote lecture delivered by Leal, 'Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino: the pastor and the man. Praise of priestly virtue,' in which he offered a full and detailed history of the Catholic Church in Cuba.

The Pontifical Lateran University is one of the most important teaching and research institutions of the Holy See, founded in 1773.