February 20, 2018 – Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk met with the newly appointed ambassador of Cuba to Russia, Mr. Gerardo Peñalver Portal.
Participating in the talk were also Deacon Andrey Titushkin, DECR secretariat for the far abroad, and Miguel Palacio, head of the public relations and protocol office of the Ss Cyril and Methodius Institute of Post-Graduate Studies.
Metropolitan Hilarion informed the head of the Cuban diplomatic mission about the cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Republic of Cuba, making a special mention of the efforts made by the Cuban authorities to organize the visit of the Primate of the Russian Church to Cuba in February 2016, during which the historic meeting took place between Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Francis of Rome in the Havana airport.
The Cuban ambassador, in his turn, said that the Cuban leaders and Cuban people have very warm memories of the visit of Patriarch Kirill to Cuba. The high ranking diplomat also informed Metropolitan Hilarion that the Cuban authorities were doing all that is possible for the development and full-fledged work of the Russian church dedicated to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God at the Malecon Embankment in Havana’s historical center.
After the talk the interlocutors exchanged tokens of the meeting.
