Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, travelled to Cuba with a message for Cubans from Pope Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Martino arrived in Havana Feb 15 to attend the celebration by the Cuban bishops' conference marking the 20th anniversary of the Cuban National Ecclesial Conference, the first meeting of bishops permitted after the 1959 revolution.

Pope Benedict's message to Cubans, addressed to Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino of Havana , repeated Pope John Paul II's hope, expressed at the end of his historic visit to Cuba in January 1998, that “ Cuba would open itself to the world and the world would open itself to Cuba .”

In his message, Pope Benedict said that such openness “requires us first of all to consider how to open (our) heart(s) and understanding to the things of God; how those who coexist can open to one another, believing and trusting in one another despite differences in ways of thinking or of beliefs.”

He also said Cubans must find appropriate ways “to open themselves to the world, with its challenges, its possibilities and its difficulties.”

He referred to Cuba as a “dear nation” and mentioned his “spiritual closeness” to the bishops, priests and Catholic faithful.

He also wrote that God “walks with everyone who lives in the country -- believers and non-believers, those close and those far off, those who sow and those who scatter -- because all are called to the banquet of life that the Father gives us.”

The 20th anniversary celebration began with a Mass Feb 15, after which the cardinal gave a talk on the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church . On Feb 17, he was scheduled to give a talk on the challenges facing the Church in today's world. The meeting ended Feb 18 with a Mass at the cathedral in Havana .

At the Cuban National Ecclesial Conference in 1986, Church leaders set the goals of “making mission the central focus on pastoral life; cultivating a vigorous missionary spirituality; prioritising integral missionary formation; accompanying and encouraging mission houses and expanding the proclamation of the Gospel to all areas.”

Cuba and the Vatican have had diplomatic relations since 1935 and recently marked the 70th anniversary of those ties, although relations chilled after the revolution swept Cuban President Fidel Castro to power in 1959.

Pope John Paul's visit to the island in 1998 helped create a more positive climate for Church-state relations, although the Catholic Church has made no headway with its main demands, including access to state-run media and a role in education.

In November, Castro met with the apostolic nuncio to Havana , Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi, as well as Cardinal Ortega and leaders of the bishops' conference. Earlier, Castro had received Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of Genoa , Italy .

Estimates suggest that about 50 percent of Cuba 's 11.3 million people are Catholic.

(CNS)